New insights on Irish Phase 2 procedures and CCPC views on remedies

Abstract

Three Phase 2 merger reviews recently completed by Ireland's competition authority, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (‘CCPC’) shed some light on its Phase 2 merger review procedures. All three mergers were cleared subject to conditions and the remedies involved (in one case a structural remedy involving a business divestment, in another a quasi-structural remedy involving customer contract sales, and in the third case purely behavioural ring-fencing commitments) clarify the CCPC's practice on merger remedies. This article reviews the three determinations primarily from a procedural perspective, but also describes the remedies accepted by the CCPC in each case.