REVISED MERGER NOTIFICATION AND EXAMINATION PROCEDURE

Having considered the amendments to the Law on Competition (Law), the Council revised merger notification and examination procedure, which takes into force from January 1, 2018.

One of the main changes concerns merger notification thresholds which increased from EUR 14.5 and 1.45 million to EUR 20 and 2 million respectively.

Besides, the gross income of undertakings registered in Lithuania and abroad will comprise the income received from the activities in the Republic in Lithuania only. Apart from that, the merging parties and related undertakings will have to submit the copies of financial statements covering the last year preceding the merger, instead of three as previously.

According to the amendments to the Law, persons who own more than ½ of the shares of the other undertaking are considered related undertakings, unless this presumption would be rebutted; what is more, two or more transactions completed by the same persons or undertakings within the period of two years will be considered one merger.

From January 1, 2018 the Council will also be able to suspend merger proceedings if at least one of the merging parties or related undertakings failed to provide information required by the Council in time or failed to provide complete information.