ADVANT Merger Control: A Q&A on the regimes in the EU, France, Germany and Italy

Merger control can be a substantial challenge when buying or selling companies or establishing joint ventures, especially for strategic and time-sensitive projects. This guide shall help companies in understanding the merger control filing requirements and navigating the merger control procedures in the EU, France, Germany and Italy. This is all the more important since the respective authorities – the European Commission (EU), the Autorité de la Concurrence (France), the Bundeskartellamt (Germany) and the Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (Italy) – are among the world’s most recognized and active merger control regulators. Combined, they reviewed more than 1,500 merger control notifications in 2023 (Germany 805, EU 356, France 266 and Italy 77). 

While these Q&A answer many typical questions that businesses may have, they naturally cannot be exhaustive. You are invited to contact our experts at any time should you have any additional or clarifying questions. Our experts serve as trusted competition counsel to major industry players in many key sectors, and represent clients before the European Commission and national competition authorities. In the past year alone, we have successfully advised on numerous complex deals, and obtained unconditional clearances in the vast majority of cases. In doing so, we have often worked in close cooperation with our M&A team and have provided comprehensive regulatory advice, including on foreign direct investment control and foreign subsidies regulation. 

We advise clients on all aspects of merger control law – both at Europe-wide level and within national jurisdictions – to enable them to achieve their business goals while limiting exposure to merger control risks. We analyze filing requirements, conduct feasibility studies, conceive filing strategies and analyze risks for transactions falling in the new category of transactions below controlling thresholds. We then represent clients in merger control proceedings in the EU, France, Germany and Italy, and coordinate their foreign merger control filings. If unavoidable, we support our clients when negotiating remedies and when appealing adverse decisions. Finally, we regularly help third parties in dealing with information requests and intervening against their competitors’ acquisitions.