Eirik Osterud, Harald Selte, Beret Sundet, Apr 29, 2013
On March 15, 2013, the Norwegian Government submitted its Proposition (Prop. 75 L (2012-2013)) for amendments to the Norwegian Competition Act (2004) to the Norwegian Parliament.
Included were important amendments that concern the control of concentrations, intended to ease the administrative burden of and adjust the Norwegian merger control regime without unduly impairing an effective control of potentially anticompetitive concentrations. Among other issues, the Government proposes a significant raise of the turnover thresholds for mandatory notifications to the Norwegian Competition Authority (“NCA”), a simplified notification system, and procedural changes for a swifter and better decision making process.
Provided the bill passes in Parliament, the amendments related to the control of concentrations are generally welcome improvements of the Norwegian regime for control of concentrations; a regime that arguably inflicts unnecessary costs and bureaucratic delays on (national and international) mergers and acquisitions and ties up an excessive share of the NCA’s resources.
The amendments are proposed to take effect from January 1, 2014.
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