Our expert Aleksandra Boutin will discuss the challenges of mergers in the digital economy with Pierre Regibeau, Martin Peitz, Timothy Lamb and Despoina (Deni) Mantzari at the conference organised by Concurrences & UCL on May 20th at 15CET.

Is there an enforcement gap? If so, does the reform of Art 22 address it? What do we make of the proposals to reverse the burden of proof on digital gatekeepers, requiring them to provide pro-competitive justification? What would be the scope and the legal standard here? Are other acquisitions or even IPOs and venture capitalism the relevant merger counterfactual? Why do we have wasteful multijurisdictional filings, inconsistent thresholds across member states and unproblematic global digital deals stuck in national proceedings? Aren’t some mergers simply European by nature? Can the EC clear unproblematic mergers faster (without issuing decisions) and could the simplified procedure be “simple” for the parties? Can we escape the state of urgency in which we find ourselves with problematic mergers where everything has to be done at once and there is no time for a proper discussion? What else do we need to make the ECMR effective and to achieve real fact-based competition enforcement in digital markets?