The Australian Competition Authority outlines recommendations for the proposed national merger law reform

This alert follows our alerts in August 2021 and March 2023 about the ACCC’s calls for changes to Australia’s current merger clearance laws and processes. The Chair of the ACCC, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, today outlined the recommendations that it has made to Treasury in relation to these reforms. Since the previous ACCC Chair’s speech in August 2021, the ACCC has publicly expressed its view that Australia’s merger clearance laws are no longer fit for purpose, and that change is needed to address concerns arising from increased market concentration. Treasury is now considering the ACCC’s proposals. The ACCC’s proposed clearance process The proposed reforms would abandon the current informal clearance regime which is used in the vast majority of mergers reviewed by the ACCC, and introduce a