Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), issued 300 decisions in 2021, which was 57 more than a year earlier, and conducted 376 merger control proceedings, the Office said. Among the issued decisions, there were 295 consents to transactions, four conditional decisions and one prohibition of concentration.
The purpose of the concentration control conducted by the President of UOKiK is to prevent mergers and acquisitions that will lead to a restriction of competition. Pursuant to the regulations, the intention to carry out a transaction is subject to notification to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection if entrepreneurs whose total turnover in the year preceding the notification exceeded the equivalent of EUR 1 billion in the world or EUR 50 million in Poland, UOKiK announced.
“Despite the ongoing pandemic, the past year was marked by mergers and acquisitions. In total, we conducted 376 proceedings, 329 of which were initiated in 2021. 300 decisions were issued, including 295 approvals for concentration, 4 conditional decisions and one prohibition. real estate, trade and energy,” said Chróstny.
Four decisions in which consent was conditional on the acquiring of certain conditions are the following concentrations: Lux-Med – Lecznice Citomed, Carrefour Polska – Ingka Centers Polska, DOZ – Euro-Apteka, Super Zdrowie and MLV18, and Betamed – Air Liquide. The ban concerned Agora taking control of Eurozet.
The concentration procedure is two-stage. In the first, which lasts up to 30 days, cases are examined that do not raise any doubts as to the negative impact on competition. More complicated ones, such as requiring market research, go to the second phase. The vast majority – 287 decisions, were issued after the first stage. In order to issue 13 decisions, the second stage of the proceedings was necessary.
Moreover, the Office issued opinions on 380 proceedings conducted by the European Commission in terms of the impact of concentration on the Polish market.
Source: UOKiK and ISBnews
