Europe's merger monitor

The European Commission's merger regime is under attack. In this invited article, Mario Monti, the competition commissioner, offers his response

Nov 7th 2002|

THE Merger Regulation, the first Europe-wide merger-control law, has been in force for more than 12 years. This innovative piece of legislation gave the European Commission the exclusive jurisdiction to examine large, cross-border mergers in Europe, within tight deadlines, so as to assess their likely impact on competition. This has served to facilitate corporate restructuring in Europe, by ensuring regulatory clearance within a timetable that corresponds to the needs of business. Merger control is as important today as when it was first introduced, and our system has served Europe well. However, like all systems, it is in need of constant revision, to ensure it can meet evolving challenges.

This article appeared in the By Invitation section of the print edition under the headline “Europe's merger monitor”