NEW MERGER NOTIFICATION AND EXAMINATION PROCEDURE CAME INTO FORCE IN LITHUANIA

Lithuanian Competition Council (the Council) announced that the new Merger Notification and Examination Procedure (the Merger Procedure) had come into force on 1 January 2016. As of that date, all merger notifications must be submitted in line with the new Merger Procedure.

The new Merger Procedure brings changes that include:

• more clarity on how to identify notifying parties and calculate their income;
• simplified submission of financial documents regarding the income of notifying parties;
• possibility not to submit information if notifying parties cannot access it;
• public announcement of the summary of an anticipated merger;
• procedure for submission of commitments;
• new merger notification form.

“We have adopted the new Merger Procedure in response to changing business environment, amendments of the EU merger regulations, law enforcement practice and most frequent mistakes that occur in merger notifications. We hope that the new Merger Procedure will bring more clarity and legal certainty to parties anticipating mergers“ – says Šarūnas Keserauskas, Chairman of the Council.

The new Merger Procedure and the new merger notification template are available on the Council’s website.