The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues 4th ed

The EU Merger Regulation: Substantive Issues provides a detailed guide to the analysis of mergers by the European Commission. It examines how the Commission determines whether to approve a notified concentration, presenting the most comprehensive guidance available on the substantive analysis at the heart of EU merger control.

This new edition deals with the realities of mergers in the legal environment that has developed under the EU Merger Regulation since 2004. It explains recent Commission behaviour, considers important new case law and discusses the legal tests.

• Describes how the Commission reaches its decisions under the EU Merger Regulation, discussing why some transactions are blocked, and others cleared
• Explains how the Commission applies fundamental concepts such as market definition and market operation
• Looks at the theories of harm likely to be raised against a merger and possible counter-arguments
• Discusses the categories of evidence canvassed before the Commission
• Considers the implications of significant recent Commission decisions, including Arsenal/DSP, Oracle/Sun Microsystems, Lufthansa/Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa/Austrian Airlines
• Examines key decisions of the European courts including Ryanair v Commission
• Considers the important influence of the revised US horizontal merger guidelines
• Assesses the approach of the new Commission appointed in 2010