Gun jumping in Europe: An overview of EU and national case law

Introduction In the last few years, the European Commission and national competition authorities have demonstrated an increased interest in investigating and punishing gun jumping. This development is part of a broader effort by the Commission to tighten its review of compliance with procedural aspects of the EU’s merger control regime. This increased enforcement is reflected in the staggering €110 million fine imposed on Facebook for providing incomplete and misleading information in connection with its acquisition of WhatsApp, [1] as well as the investigations recently opened against Merck and Sigma-Aldrich and General Electric on the same grounds. [2] As EU law on gun jumping is still not well developed, businesses face increased risk of incurring heavy fines even for inadvertent