Tag: amendment

The end of the zero-threshold contagion?

Posted on by Editor
COMESA Competition Commission logo

COMESA Competition Commission‘s head of mergers foreshadows end of zero-threshold regime

Will the Commission soon find a cure to the contagion that has made the agency’s merger control the subject of heavy criticism by antitrust practitioners and and even ridicule by fellow enforcers? Willard Mwemba claims the agency has – after over a year of operating under the zero-threshold rule – “set the wheels in motion for the threshold to be raised.”  The Commission is reportedly working with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation to determine what the proper notification thresholds should be.

We previously had this to say in November of last year:

[T]he dual dilemma of the “zero-threshold contagion” and the inordinately high filing fees currently affecting the CCC’s merger-control regime (and resulting in rather low merger-notification statistics of less than one per month) will continue to hamper the young agency and its customers for the foreseeable near-term future.

Depending on how swiftly the agency and its advisors at the IFC get things done – and the amendments actually get approved – it appears that our timing forecast was fairly accurate  (“COMESA merger rules to change in April 2014 at the earliest“).

COMESA merger rules to change in April 2014 at the earliest

Posted on by andreasstargard

COMESA Competition Commission logo

Breaking news: A senior source at the COMESA Competition Commission (“CCC”), has confirmed that the CCC is currently finalising proposed amendments to the Regulations.

The amendments being debated seek to change, crucially, the applicable thresholds for merger notifications to the CCC and to clarify the definition and (potentially lower?) amount of the administrative notification fees.

For the amendments to come into force, they require approval from the COMESA Council of Ministers.  The Council convenes once a year, now likely in February.  The source adds that, as the amendments will only be finalised toward the end of February, an extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers will likely need to be convened to consider the amendments to the Regulations.  Such an extraordinary session may take place in April 2014.  The amended Regulations will only become enforceable upon approval by the Council.

That is, the way things are looking today, any change to the COMESA merger rules will occur in half a year at the earliest…

In practical terms, this means that the dual dilemma of the “zero-threshold contagion” and the inordinately high filing fees currently affecting the CCC’s merger-control regime (and resulting in rather low merger-notification statistics of less than one per month) will continue to hamper the young agency and its customers for the foreseeable near-term future.

We will report back once we have additional details on the precise language of the proposed amendments.