Droit du contrôle national des concentrations

Merger control under French law was radically modified by the NRE Act of 15 May 2001, itself supplemented by a decree of 30 April 2002. The change is due firstly to the new classification of a concentration, by bringing French law into line with Community law; secondly to the lowering of the control thresholds, with a considerable broadening of the Administration’s scope of intervention; and thirdly to the strengthening of the economic and political nature of control. The severity of the sanctions accompanying the new system, as well as the relative unpredictability of the results and sometimes even of the conditions of control, make it all the more necessary to control the merger regime to which this study refers.

The book presents a systematic review of concentration control. It aims to determine precisely which concentrations can be controlled and gives a concrete description of the control process. What operations can constitute a controllable concentration, by their nature of course, but also by the activity of the companies concerned and the territory in which they operate? What measures must be taken by the undertakings even before the control procedure is initiated, at the time of the initiation of the control procedure, during the control procedure and at the end of the control procedure?

All professional players involved in business combinations, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions are concerned by this study.

The book is aimed at :

• Firstly, to the Directorates General, Legal Departments and Administrative and Financial Departments of companies who need to master the new legal framework to carry out these operations;
• Secondly, to partners and advisors who support the company in these projects: lawyers, financial institutions, auditors...;
• Thirdly, to students and specialists in competition law who will be able to assess the theoretical and practical aspects of the new texts.