By Christer A. Holm 23 March 1998
On 1 March the amendments to the EC Merger Regulation, adopted by the Council in June 1997 (Regulation 1301/97), came into force. A new procedural Regulation, together with the revised notification form CO was published in OJ L61 of 2 March 1998. A series of explanatory Commission notices were published in OJ C66 of 2 March 1998.
The new amendments are the first set of substantive changes made to the Regulation since its introduction in 1989. They can be grouped into four categories:
- reduced thresholds to cover deals which may otherwise give rise to multiple national filings
- changes to the definition of a joint venture which qualifies under the Regulation, extending its scope to all "full-function" joint ventures
