Cyriel Ruers was interviewed by Global Competition Review about the advice issued last week by the Council of State (RvS), the most important advisory body to parliament and the government, on the proposal for the ACM Call-In Power Act. Under this bill, the Dutch Competition Authority, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), would be given the power to investigate and prohibit mergers and acquisitions that are not subject to notification (below thresholds mergers) retrospectively.
Cyriel stated:
"Although advice from the Council of State is not binding, it is “taken seriously” by parliament and failing to address its concerns could lead to additional scrutiny".
The RvS is critical of the bill and argues that the need for it has not been demonstrated. This is partly due to the overly broad scope of the proposal. The proposal provides for intervention powers for concentrations in all sectors of the economy, while according to the explanatory note to the bill, competition concerns only exist in certain sectors.
Furthermore, the Council of State warns against a further increase in the already heavy workload for the ACM, because industry associations have indicated that companies will report many transactions to the ACM as a precautionary measure if the bill comes into force. The ACM has long been in favour of expanding the competition tools at its disposal.
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