Bundeskartellamt refers Promatech/Sulzer merger to competition authority in Brussels

19.12.2001

In close cooperation with the competition authorities in the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain the Bundeskartellamt has for the first time applied to have a planned merger notified at national level transferred to the European Commission for examination (Art. 22 (3) of the European Merger Control Regulation). This involves the intention of Promatech S.p.A. (Italy) to take over the weaving machine business of Sulzer AG (Switzerland). The European Commission was not responsible for the merger project from the start because of the level of turnover of the companies involved.

The President of the Bundeskartellamt, Dr Böge, stated: “Within the framework of the newly established network of competition authorities of the Member States (European Competition Authorities) and in close cooperation with the countries mentioned above we have been able to apply for a referral to the Commission”.  In view of the markets affected Europe-wide and the Community-wide significance of the project I consider an examination by the Commission rather than by the Member States to be desirable. This would represent a proper division of work between Commission and Member States and hence be consistent with the principle of subsidiarity.”

Last week the European Commission published its Green Paper on the reform of the European Merger Regulation. This contains inter alia proposals on the reorganisation of the areas of competence of the European Commission and the national competition authorities. With this in mind Böge stated: “The referral of merger cases in both directions is necessary in order to guarantee effective protection of competition in Europe. This improvement in fine tuning with the Commission and between the national competition authorities is in my mind a central aspect in connection with the reform of the Merger Regulation. If the threshold of 5 billion euro turnover is not reached the European Commission should not automatically be the competent authority, even for multiple filings. The Member States affected should, on their own responsibility, and in the sense of the cooperation concept refer cases of Community-wide importance to the Commission, as in the case in question, Promatech/Sulzer. In this way the necessity of having even minor cases of no Community-wide significance processed by Brussels could be avoided.”

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