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Global merger control round-up—June 2023: non-notifiable deals under dominance rules, Morocco thresholds, Swiss exemption, HSR reforms, gun-jumping fines, and UK energy network mergers regime update

Published by a LexisNexis Competition expert

Practice notes

This month features a standstill and hold separate order by the Belgian Competition Authority against Proximus for a non-notifiable acquisition under abuse of dominance rules; amendments to Morocco’s merger control thresholds; the publication of draft Swiss legislation introducing, amongst other measures, a new exemption from the notification obligation; and the Federal Trade Commission in the USA proposing changes to the pre‑merger notification form and process.

Belgian—BCA imposes standstill and hold separate order under abuse of dominance rules

In our March 2023 monthly merger update, we noted that the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) had launched an ex post investigation, based on abuse of dominance rules, into Proximus, the incumbent Belgian telecoms operator, following its recent acquisition of EDPnet. The transaction did not meet Belgian merger control thresholds owing to EDPnet’s turnover.

This move follows the Court of Justice’s Towercast judgment of 16 March 2023, which confirmed that concentrations below merger thresholds can be subjected to ex post scrutiny for abuse of dominance. Towercast therefore recognises an additional path for enforcers to capture concentrations that are not otherwise caught by ex ante merger control. On 21 June 2023, the College of the BCA announced...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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