A concentration is the legal combination of two or more undertakings, by the merger between two or more undertakings or by the control acquisition, directly or indirectly, of the whole or parts of one or several other undertakings.
Law 19/2012, of 8 May 2012 (the “Competition Law”), which entered into in force on 8 July 2012 and repealed the former competition law, Law 18/2003, of 11 June 2003, establishes merger control rules applicable to concentrations having effects in Portugal.
The Competition Law brought relevant changes on merger control rules, particularly by (i) putting the merger substantive test in line with the Significant Impediment of Effective Competition (“SIEC”) test of the European merger rules; (ii) changing the turnover thresholds required for the notification to the Portuguese competition authority (Autoridade da Concorrência – the “Competition Authority”), including adding a new de minimis market share notification threshold, (iii) deleting the previous notification deadline, and (iv) amending some deadlines applicable to the merger procedure.
In order to prevent the risk of competition restrictions, the Competition Authority exercises control over planned concentrations with effects in the national market.
Following an assessment phase, the Competition Authority may approve the concentration, including upon the application of remedies to be carried out by the undertakings, or prohibit the transaction insofar as it creates significant impediments to effective competition in the national market, particularly in case of creation or reinforcement of a dominant position in the national market.
Undertakings that execute concentrations which have been suspended or prohibited by the Competition Authority may be subject to fines and the legal acts related to the transaction could be declared null and void. The maximum amount of the fine could be 10% of the aggregate annual turnover of the associated undertakings that have engaged in the prohibited behavior.
This paper reviews some of the most important legal aspects regarding merger control rules in Portugal.