The European Commission's Extraterritorial Powers in Merger Control

Abstract

Within the field of competition law the question of jurisdiction is able to ignite an extremely heated debate. For example, when the American company Boeing decided to acquire the American company McDonnel Douglas both the US and the EU competition authorities engaged in an investigation of the transaction. The fact that the Community commenced an investigation, and even appeared to consider a prohibition, of the merger caused an uproar amongst some American politicians. These politicians claimed that the merger was a purely American matter and that the Community's competition authorities had no jurisdiction over the merging parties.