OFT Consults On Exempting More Transactions From UK Merger Regime

On 18 June 2007 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued a consultation on a proposal to exempt more small mergers from the UK merger regime.

At present, the OFT may decide not to refer a merger for further investigation by the Competition Commission (CC) where it believes the market or markets involved are not of sufficient importance to justify a CC reference. However, even where a market is very small the OFT may still decide to investigate in certain circumstances, in particular where:

• the product concerned is an important input into a larger market;

• the goods or services concerned are considered essential to vulnerable consumers;

• the market is growing quickly, so that market size is not a good indicator of the market’s importance.