Amendments To The Competition Act Regarding Merger Notification Thresholds And Changes To The Notification Form For Acquisitions

• Law Firm: Waselius & Wist
• Subject Matter: orporate/Commercial Law, Antitrust/Competition Law, M&A/Private Equity, Corporate and Company Law, Antitrust, EU Competition
• Author: Ms Lotta Pohjanpalo and Sami Hartikainen
• Published date: 05 July 2023

The Finnish Government submitted a Government Bill to the Finnish Parliament in September 2022, suggesting that the notification threshold for mergers and acquisitions be lowered following an earlier proposal by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority ("FCCA") in the summer of 2021. The changes have entered into force on 1 January 2023.

The proposed changes to the Competition Act will lead to more acquisitions being reported and investigated. The aim is to strengthen competition by preventing harmful market concentration and price increases for consumers.

Following the amendments, the FCCA will now investigate acquisitions where the parties' combined turnover in Finland exceeds EUR 100 million and the turnover of each of at least two parties in Finland exceeds EUR 10 million.

The FCCA was not granted the right to review transactions that fall below the turnover thresholds, as contemplated in the earlier proposal by the FCCA in June 2021.

At the previous notification thresholds, the FCCA handled approximately 30 notifications annually. According to estimations, the number of notifications will...