The Future of the EC Merger Regulation

Abstract

In September 2000 a celebratory meeting was jointly organised in Brussels by the EC Directorate General for Competition (the former DGIV) and the International Bar Association, to mark the tenth anniversary of the implementation of Regulation 4064/89 which set up the EC system of merger control. As is usually the case at birthday parties, the emphasis was on the success already achieved by the celebrant rather than on any of its possible shortcomings! Much was said about the sound foundations laid in the years immediately before the Regulation was adopted, when a range of opinion was sought from all around the Community on how its procedures should be set up, drawing on the experience of officials and lawyers in many Member States as well as the USA. Tribute was also rightly paid at the celebrations to the proactive role of Commission officials in the Merger Task Force especially during its early years, when its traditions of a user-friendly approach and the positive use of the pre-notification period were established.