Italy: Announced Italian Competition Authority's Proposals for the Annual Law for Competition including merger rules

A reform proposal for the 2021 Annual Law for Competition was announced by the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) and sent to the Italian Government on 23 March 2021. The proposals enhance the powers of the ICA as it is allowed to issue requests for information. Additionally, the new power granted to the ICA requires companies involved in mergers or acquisitions to submit notifications even after the transaction has been completed, within a period of up to six months. This applies to transactions that potentially harm competition or a significant portion of the national market. There are two scenarios where this additional power can be exercised: (i) if a single ordinary notification threshold is met or (ii) if the combined global turnover of the involved companies exceeds 5 billion EUR. The change is an extra tool for the ICA to address problematic mergers, including "killer acquisitions." Moreover, the standard of "Significant Impediment to Effective Competition" (SIEC) is introduced.