The European Commission is expected to present, most likely in March, a revision of the Merger Guidelines. The Commission’s objective is to establish a modern framework that systematically responds to recent economic realities and gives due weight to resilience, efficiency and innovation, time horizons, the investment intensity of competition in certain strategic sectors, and developments in the defence and security environment.

The initiative seeks to revise the Guidelines on horizontal and non-horizontal mergers (together, the “Merger Guidelines”) in order to ensure that they are aligned with these objectives. The parallel revision of both sets of guidelines should ensure a response to market realities and issues relevant to all types of mergers, together with the specific challenges of decarbonisation and digitalisation.

The Guidelines on horizontal and non-horizontal mergers were adopted in 2004 and 2008, respectively. They set out the key principles and factors taken into account by the Commission when assessing the impact on competition of notified mergers.

Although the ultimate objective of the Commission’s enforcement of competition law should remain unchanged, since the adoption of the Guidelines on horizontal mergers in 2004 and the Guidelines on non-horizontal mergers in 2008, market realities in the EU and globally have been transformed by the twin green and digital transitions and by geopolitical changes placing greater emphasis on Europe’s resilience, defence and security.

By providing clear guidance to companies operating in these new market realities, the revised Merger Guidelines are expected to deliver greater predictability and legal certainty, as well as a more modernised framework to support mergers capable of enhancing the productivity, security and competitiveness of the European economy as a whole.