Commission, European

Trustee (mergers)

Institution Definition

A legal or natural person appointed in merger cases to oversee the implementation of commitments and to contribute to their implementation where required. The trustee is appointed by the parties who have offered commitments the Commission with the Commission’s approval. His powers and duties are set out in the Trustee mandate, an agreement between the trustee and the parties - again subject to the Commission’s approval. The Trustee normally has the power to propose and if necessary impose measures on the parties to ensure compliance with the commitments as well as an irrevocable mandate to effect the divestiture of the business or businesses to be sold, at no minimum price, if the parties fail to do so within a given period. European Commission

See the Commission Notice on remedies acceptable under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 and under Commission Regulation (EC) No 802/2004

Articles

Michel van Zundert, Nasoul Gopal UK: Role of trustees in the merger control regime

September 2017

Competition agencies worldwide appoint monitoring trustees (MTs) when competition concerns arise from a merger. In the UK, it also is quite common to appoint a MT during the CMA’s review process to avoid gun jumping or enable (cross-border) integration. This article compares the role of the MT (...)

Antoni Vassileff, Patrick de Bonnières Toward best practices for antitrust trustees

February 2014

Drawing on other regulated professions or activities, this article suggests a possible approach to the supervision of the Monitoring Trustee practice. Its pragmatic implementation under the aegis of competition authorities could notably lead to better service quality for companies under the (...)

Alain Mouzon, Christophe Lemaire, David Bosco, Laurence Idot, Pascal Wilhelm, Patrick de Bonnières, Thierry Dahan The breach of commitments in competition proceedings

February 2012

This set of articles explores the case of breach of commitments in competition proceedings. Recent cases, in France and abroad, have highlited issues that commitments monitoring may cause. Thierry Dahan and Christophe Lemaire express here the lawyers general point of view in antitrust law, (...)

Alain Ronzano, Christelle Adjémian Competition Journals: April - June 2009

September 2009

1. General - Scope of application Reforms of French competition law: the big game? Part [2] E. Claudel (RTD com. Jan-March 2009, p. 91-113). In this very comprehensive article devoted to the overall reform of competition law in 2008, Emmanuelle Claudel goes back over the premises of the (...)

Ainura Abdyrakunova, Niyazbek Aldashev, Volker Soyez Merger control in Central Asia: Mandatory pre-merger notification

February 2009

This brief article provides an introduction to merger control in Central Asia and its enforcement by the local competition authorities. Merger Control regimes exist in all Central Asian countries. They largely follow the western models and they all provide for mandatory premerger notification (...)

Anna A. Chehtova Bulgaria: The 2008 Competition Act

February 2009

La nouvelle loi bulgare sur la concurrence, entrée en vigueur le 2 Décembre 2008, a comme objet l’harmonisation du droit de la concurrence bulgare avec les règles communautaires. La loi introduit les fondations d’un programme de réduction et d’exemption des sanctions ainsi que une action en (...)

Laurent Nouvel, Matthew Gaved, Nadine Mouy, Nathalie Jalabert-Doury, Thomas Hoehn Merger remedies: A call for a stricter control

May 2007

The credibility of the system of merger control relies on the fact that firms comply with the remedies. The importance of this issue has been increased by the development of behavioural remedies and by the increasing complexity of the different types of structural remedies. In this context, the (...)

a b c d e f g h i j l m n o p r s t u v

a

Absolute territorial protection • Abuse of dominant position • Abuse of economic dependence • Access to essential facility • Access to information • Access to the file • Administered prices • Advocacy • Agency agreement • Agent • Agreement (notion) • Amicus curiae • Ancillary restraints • Annulment • Anticompetitive object or effect • Anticompetitive practices • Antitrust • Applicable law • Arbitration • Article 11 letter • Automotive distribution

b

Barriers to entry • Bertrand (Nash) equilibrium • Bid rigging • Billing • Black cause • Block exemption (Regulation) • Boycott • Brand competition • Burden of proof • Business secrets • Buyer power

c

Cartel • Civil fine • Clearance phase I (merger) • Clearance phase II (merger) • Collecting society • Collective dominance • Collective redress (class action) • Comity • Commission Notice • Competence • Competition policy • Complaint • Compliance programme • Compulsory license • Concerted practices • Concession • Concurrent jurisdiction • Consortium • Consumers protection • Consumers’ associations • Contract • Control (change) • Control (notion) • Cooperation Agreement • Cooperation between competition authorities • Coordinated effects • Copyright • Corporate group • Corruption • Cost-based access • Criminal sanctions • Cross subsidisation

d

Damages • Dawn raids • De minimis notice • Direct effect • Discriminatory practices • Distribution agreement • Dominance (notion)

e

ECHR • Economic analysis • Economic efficiency • Economies of scale • Effect on trade between Member States • Effective judicial protection • EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) & Court • Environmental protection • Essential facility • European Competition Network (ECN) • Excessive prices • Exchanges of information • Exclusive distribution • Exclusive purchasing • Exclusive right (Art. 106 TFEU) • Exclusivity clause • Exhaustion • Extra-territoriality

f

Failing firm defence • Fidelity rebates • Fine • Fine mitigating • Foreign direct investment (FDI) • Form CO • Franchising • FRAND • Free riding

g

GAFAM • Geographic market • Group purchasing organization • Gun jumping

h

Hard core restrictions • Hearing officer • Horizontal agreement

i

Imputability • Independence and impartiality • Individual exemption • Intellectual property right • Inter-brand competition • Interim measures • International co-operation • International competition network (ICN) • Investigations / inquiries

j

Joint control • Joint venture • Judicial review

l

Legal privilege • Leniency • Lerner index • Letter of formal notice • Letter of rejection of complaints • Licensing • Limitation period • Low prices

m

Mandatary (distribution) • Margin squeeze • Market economy investor • Market of goods or services • Market power • Market share • Media pluralism • Merger (notion) • Merger (prohibition) • Merger (withdrawal) • Merger control procedure • Merger remedies • Minority shareholdings • Misinformation

n

Ne bis in idem • Network effect • Non-compete obligation • Notification • Nullity

o

Oligopoly

r

Referral (merger) • Refusal to deal • Regulated prices • Regulation • Relevant market • Remedies (antitrust) • Remedies (antitrust) • Request for information • Resale price maintenance (RPM) • Resale-below-cost • Restriction on exportation • Right against self-incrimination • Rights of defence • Rule of reason

s

Sector inquiry • Selective distribution • Services of general economic interest • Single branding • Sole control • Spill-over effects • Standard-Essential Patent (SEP) • State action defense • State aid (compatibility) • State aid (existing aid) • State aid (notification) • State aid (notion) • State aid (recovery) • State aid (tax ruling) • State aid (unlawful aid) • State measure • Substitutability • Sudden break of established business relationships

t

Technology transfer • Test SIEC (merger) • Test SLC (merger) • Transfer pricing • Transparency • Trustee (mergers) • Turnover threshold (merger) • Two-sided market • Tying or tied selling

u

Undertaking (notion) • Unfair commercial practices • Unfair competition • Universal service • Upstream market

v

Vertical agreement • Vertical restraints (or restrictions)