LME Act : The Legislator transfers merger control powers to a newly created competition authority, provides for “stop the clock” provisions, lowers thresholds for retail and overseas territories but the Minister of Economy retains the ability to override a decision of the competition authority on the basis of public interest (LME)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. – Law n°2008-776 of August 4, 2008 on the modernization of the economy, art. 96, JORF n°181 of August 5, 2008, p.12471 Law 2008-776 of 4 August 2008 on the modernisation of the economy (known as the LME Law) radically reformed French merger control by transferring the powers hitherto held by the Minister of the Economy to the new Competition Authority, an independent administrative authority that is the heir to the current Competition Council. Although it is doubtful whether this part of the reform will have a very substantial impact on purchasing power, as the Commission, known as Attali, for the "Libération de la Croissance Française", which was behind this