EU Merger Guidelines Review: Next steps
The EU Commission’s public consultation on the review of the merger guidelines, launched in Q2 2025,7 is now closed. The EU Commission received 27 responses8 to its Call for Evidence. All are now published. The EU Commission is currently analyzing these responses and will publish a summary of the main points and conclusions on its ‘Have Your Say’ portal and on DG Competition’s website.
The economic study on the dynamic effects of mergers commissioned in parallel will also inform the review of the Merger Guidelines. This study aims to provide analytical foundations to assess whether a merger has a positive or negative impact on these dynamic factors, and analyze their relationship with static factors – such as alters in prices or output.
At a later stage, a stakeholders’ workshop will be organized, and, subsequently, stakeholders will have the possibility to provide their views on a draft of the revised Merger Guidelines that the EU Commission will publish for comments. The results will feed into the ongoing review of the EU Merger Guidelines.
Adoption of the revised Merger Guidelines is planned for Q4 2027.9
Launch of an Investigation for Possible Breach of the Duty to Supply Correct Information
On 24 July 2025, the EU Commission opened a formal investigation for possible breach by the parties of the duty to supply correct information in the context of a transaction in the broadband infrastructure access services sector.
For background, on 30 May 2024, the EU Commission had unconditionally cleared the acquisition, concluding that the transaction would not raise competition concerns in the EEA. The EU Commission is now assessing whether the acquirer provided incorrect or misleading information about certain long-term broadband infrastructure access agreements entered into with several access seekers which were crucial to the assessment.
Interestingly, the EU Commission is launching this investigation more than a year after clearance was granted.
Notifications and information requests are the primary sources of information for the EU Commission when assessing notified mergers and acquisitions. Accuracy and completeness of information are therefore essential for an effective assessment, which is why parties can incur sanctions if they provide incorrect, incomplete or misleading information. They may receive a fine of up to 1% of their aggregate turnover,10 and/or the Commission may revoke the decision adopted based on incorrect information.11
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