Maurits Terlouw

Anyone who thinks that M&A transactions below the European and national merger control  thresholds fall outside the control of the competition authority could be in for an unpleasant surprise. Upon referral by the European Member States, even these transactions might be investigated by the European Commission. This particularly concerns transactions involving small, innovative companies with high competitive potential.

The European Commission plans to change the use of the referral system in merger control.  This  should allow the Commission to assess small but, in its view, important transactions, even if the turnover of the companies concerned is below the national notification thresholds. Margrethe Vestager revealed this during her speech at the competition conference held on 8 September 2020.

Last week EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced that the European Commission (Commission) will launch a public consultation on competition law and sustainability. We expect the Commission to publish a call for contributions in the next few weeks. Vestager mentions that this consultation follows recent initiatives by the Dutch and Greek competition authorities, both of which focus on sustainability in the context of competition.

The chapter provides an overview addressing the 50 most relevant merger control topics in the Netherlands.