Competition delegates discussed Investigations of Consummated and Non-notifiable Mergers at their meeting in February 2014.
Participants shared experiences on how agencies address alleged anti-competitive effects of consummated mergers that have not been subject to merger notification, either because they fell below statutory notification thresholds, because there was no obligation to report the transaction (e.g., the notification system has other exceptions or is voluntary), or because the parties failed to meet their filing obligations.
This is an area where agencies have different powers:
- some agencies have the authority to review consummated and non-notifiable mergers under their merger review systems;
- other agencies may need to resort to general antitrust provisions on horizontal agreements and unilateral conduct or abuse of dominance.