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Landmark joint statement on merger controls by international competition watchdogs

The ACCC, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and Germany’s Bundeskartellamt yesterday (Tuesday 20 April) issued a joint statement highlighting the importance of rigorous and effective merger enforcement.

ACCC Chair Rod Sims said, “I am delighted to be releasing this joint statement with our UK and German counterpart authorities. We all recognise that competition is fundamental to the success of a market economy. Competition crucially depends on effective merger control.

“Companies have a clear incentive to merge with or acquire their competitors to increase their market power and raise prices. This is why effective merger control is so important, and why some mergers must be blocked by competition authorities.”

“We know that once market power is gained from a merger, it is very difficult to restore competition with our other competition enforcement tools, making it crucial for us to use merger control more effectively. “

“The focus of competition agencies, courts and tribunals must be on the importance of protecting competition and preventing anticompetitive mergers, otherwise there is a risk that merger control instead skews towards merger clearance and so damages our economy.”

To learn more, visit the ACCC website.

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