Today the Bundeskartellamt has published its revised guidance document „Domestic Effects in Merger Control“.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “We aim to relieve concentrations that do not affect Germany of unnecessary bureaucracy. The guidance document provides companies with clear rules and increases legal certainty. Ultimately, we want to avoid that mergers without significant effects in Germany need to be notified to and reviewed by the Bundeskartellamt.”

Foreign-to-foreign mergers, i.e. mergers between companies based abroad, often raise the question as to whether they have to be notified in Germany. This is only the case if the companies’ net sales exceed certain thresholds, and if, in addition, the concentration will have sufficient effects on competition in Germany. Otherwise, the concentration is not subject to notification in Germany.

The guidance document “Domestic Effects in Merger Control” is to replace the previous document which was published in 1999. It updates the document and revises the analytical concept for the assessment of domestic effects. Following its invitation for consultation on its draft guidance document, the Bundeskartellamt has received numerous comments on this document from within Germany and abroad. All comments have been considered carefully and some points in the draft were revised accordingly in order to further improve the guidance document. In particular, case examples were included to facilitate the application of the analytical concept in practice.

The Bundeskartellamt examines more than 1,000 concentrations each year. Proposed mergers have to be notified to the Bundeskartellamt depending on the nature of the transactions and the turnover of the merging parties. The guidance document is designed to help companies and their advisors assess whether a proposed concentration will have sufficient effects in Germany to trigger a mandatory notification. A flowchart, which is attached to the guidance text as an annex, serves the same purpose by illustrating how to apply the concept.