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NEWS LETTER 2 0 1 0
102
The New Merger Communiqué Becomes Effective On 1
January 2011
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Article 7/1 of the Act on the Protection of Competition No. 4054
(hereinafter referred to as the “Competition Act”) prohibits mergers or
acquisitions of undertakings with a view to creating a dominant position
or strengthening its/their dominant position, which would result in
significant lessening of competition in a market for goods or services
within the whole or a part of the country. The same Article in paragraph 2
grants the Competition Board the authority to declare the types of mergers
and acquisitions which have to be notified to the Board and for which
permission has to be obtained in order them to become legally valid by
issuing communiqués.
In this framework, Communiqué No. 1997/1 on Mergers and
Acquisitions Subject to Approval of the Competition Board (hereinafter
referred to as the “Previous Merger Communiqué”) was adopted. This
Communiqué has served its purpose for almost 13 years due to the
developments of EU merger legislation and the requirements that arose
during the application of the Previous Communiqué, so the Competition
Authority has issued the Communiqué on the Mergers and Acquisitions
Subject to Approval of the Competition Board No. 2010/4 (hereinafter
referred to as the “New Merger Communiqué”) on October / 2010. The
New Merger Communiqué will become effective very soon, as of January
1, 2011.
We would like to mention some of the main changes under the New
Merger Communiqué;
•
The concept of control is more clearly defined under Article 5 of
the New Communiqué.
It is stated that in order for amerger or an acquisition to be considered
as a transaction subject to the approval of the Competition Board,
first of all a “permanent change in control” must occur. This new
regulation is a reflection of the “change in control on a lasting basis”
adopted under the EU Merger legislation and also the Competition
Board decisions.
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Article of December 2010