Competition Act.
The amendment of the Competition Act submitted by the Swiss Federal Council for parliamentary debate on November 7, 2001, has not yet been enacted by the Swiss Parliament. It has only been approved by the National Council on September 26, 2002. The approval by the States Council is expected in spring 2003.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Merger Control
On October 9, 2002, the FCC cleared the merger among Valiant Holding ("VHB"), IRB Interregio Bank ("IRB") and Luzerner Regiobank AG ("LRB"). The FCC held that the dealing in unlisted shares constitutes a separate products market.
On September 25, 2002, the FCC cleared the acquisition by IBM Deutschland ("IBM") of the capital stock of PwC Consulting AG ("PwC), a company held by the partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers AG. As the undertakings concerned were active at the international level, the FCC applied the same products market definitions as the
