PCC Issues Motu Proprio Merger Review Guidelines For Digital Markets

On 21 August 2023, the Philippine Competition Commission ("PCC") issued the Guidelines for the Motu Proprio Review of Mergers and Acquisitions in Digital Markets (the "Guidelines") to provide greater transparency and predictability over the PCC's power of motu proprio review of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) within the digital market.

The Guidelines set out a non-exhaustive list of transactions that the PCC believes may pose competition issues in the digital market and, thus, may trigger a motu proprio review by the PCC. These are:

1. Transactions involving gatekeepers, i.e., entities that offer services that act as access points for consumers to participate in the market. Gatekeepers can potentially create a bottleneck if access to the digital service is an essential connection between users and consumers, which can potentially affect the development of competitors.