EU Merger Control is currently undergoing its most profound reform to date, central to which is the more economic approach. This chapter gives a comprehensive overview of the legislative and non-legislative changes including a description of the historical background. On this basis, a...

Mergers that substantially lessen competition are challenged by antitrust authorities. Instead of blocking anticompetitive transitions straight away, authorities might choose to negotiate with the merging parties and allow the transactions to proceed with modifications that restore or preserve...

The co-legislators adopted the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in July 2022. The text is landmark legislation that imposes a list of ex-ante obligations and interdictions on large online platforms acting as “gatekeepers” in some core platform services (CPS). Yet, the DMA also imposes an obligation...

While the possibility of algorithmic price discrimination and algorithmic collusion has been extensively discussed in the global antitrust community in recent years, there has been much more limited discussion in the context of mergers. In this article, we aim to fill this gap by discussing some...

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has recently outlined proposed changes to Australia's merger clearance law and process. This paper analyses the ACCC's proposals. We conclude that:1. Overall, the current merger clearance process in Australia works very well. However, the ACCC...

The DOJ and FTC clarify the role of labor market power ("monopsony") in the 2023 draft merger guidelines. The draft states in Guideline 11 that the structural presumption threshold applies to labor market concentration, while also suggesting that a stricter threshold may be warranted in labor...

The Grand Chamber set aside the judgment of the General Court in CK Telecoms having found eight errors in law. This paper dissects the judgment of the Grand Chamber and illustrates and explains the differences between the two judgments as well as their significance. The Grand Chamber clarifies...

Large digital platforms acquired 1149 firms in various economic sectors between 1987 and July 2022. The European Commission reviewed only 21 of these mergers as most did not meet the European Union merger control turnover threshold. This suggests under-enforcement, with some problematic mergers...

We evaluate the economic impact of the change in European merger legislation in 2004 and propose a general framework focusing on four different policy dimensions: 1) predictability, 2) decision errors, 3) reversion of anti-competitive rents, and 4) deterrence. We find that after the reform the...

The present article discusses remedies for coordinated effects under the EU Merger Regulation. To this end, it is divided in three parts. Part I reviews the remedies applied to date by the Commission in coordinated effects cases (I). Part II discusses the substantive standard against which such...