Differences in German and EU Merger Control Law – Should a Common EU Rulebook for Mergers Follow the German or European Model?

Competition laws in Europe have already been partially harmonised. However, the merger control regimes of the EU and those of the individual Member States continue to differ in many respects. This results in considerable complexity for firms having to file merger notifications in several European countries in parallel, or facing a referral request from a Member State.Against this backdrop, it has been suggested that the merger control regimes across Europe could be fully harmonised by way of a common merger control rulebook. In our view, such a rulebook should not simply replicate the existing EU merger control rules, but must also look to the laws of the Member States in order to come up with the best possible mix of rules. This paper compares the EU merger rules with the German Act against Restraints of Competition and makes proposals as to which aspects of EU and German merger control rules should ideally be included in a common merger control rulebook