‘Procedural issue’ affects merger thresholds
A ministerial order that raised the threshold at which mergers and acquisitions must be notified to the competition watchdog has lapsed, meaning that the previous lower thresholds have been reinstated.
The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) has told the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) that there has been “a procedural issue” in the legislative approval process.
Under the change, in force from 1 July, businesses had to notify the CCPC of a deal if the aggregate turnover of the businesses involved was €100 million and if the turnover of at least two of the individual businesses involved was €15 million or more.
Statutory order
The CCPC has now been told, however, that the statutory order bringing the change into effect lapsed on 30 September.
This means that the previous lower thresholds of €60 million for aggregate turnover and €10 million or more for individual businesses have applied from 30 September.
According to the CCPC, the department intends to take the necessary steps to reintroduce the higher thresholds in early January 2027.
‘Gun-jumping’
The watchdog has urged businesses involved in deals put into effect after 30 September to review whether they meet the lower thresholds.
It has said, however, that it will not open any ‘gun-jumping’ investigations into transactions that were inadvertently not notified as a result of the lapse of the statutory order.
Under section 27(1) of the Competition Act 2002, the minister has the power to raise the financial thresholds for mandatory notification of mergers by means of a ministerial order once a year.