The EU Commission encourages the delay of merger notifications and electronic submission as special measures due to COVID-19

Commission, European

16 Mar 2020

The EU Commission encourages the delay of merger notifications and electronic submission as special measures due to COVID-19

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EU Commission, Special Measures due to coronavirus / COVID-19, Press release, 16 March 2020

SPECIAL MEASURES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS / COVID-19*

DELAY OF MERGER NOTIFICATIONS

DG COMP has put in place a number of measures to ensure business continuity in the enforcement of the EU Merger Regulation. However, due to the complexities and disruptions caused by the Coronavirus, companies are encouraged to delay merger notifications originally planned until further notice, where possible.

This is notably because (i) DG COMP services are likely to face difficulties in collecting information from third parties, such as customers, competitors and suppliers, in the coming weeks and (ii) all Commission services may face limitations in terms of access to information and databases and in terms of information exchanges following the remote working measures taken as of 16 March 2020.

TEMPORARY ACCEPTANCE OF ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS

Hand deliveries to DG COMP premises will remain possible but may become difficult due to reduced presence of staff. As before, according to the general rules, the delivering law firm or company must call the Merger Registry prior to making a hand delivery.

However, DG Competition will temporarily also accept and actually encourages all submissions in digital format, either:

electronically by email to the functional mailbox of the merger registry (comp-merger-registry@ec.europa.eu), putting the case team in copy if one has been assigned, or
electronically through eTrustEx.

The delivery of paper originals will then be arranged at a later time. Further information on delivery of merger-related documents can be found here.

*This is the original title of the press release. The title above has been amended in order to match the e-Competitions format. Individual authors are welcome to provide original independent commentaries on the case law. Articles are subject to approval by the Board of e-Competitions Bulletin before publication based on the Editorial Policy (click here).

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The EU Commission encourages the delay of merger notifications and electronic submission as special measures due to COVID-19

SPECIAL MEASURES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS / COVID-19*

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