Legal background Legal background for Government intervention in mergers on national security grounds
The current legislative framework for the assessment of United Kingdom ("UK") mergers between enterprises (which include outright acquisitions) is contained in Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (the "Act"), which has been in force since 20 June 2003. Along with investigation of competition issues, this provides for Government intervention on public interest grounds in three types of case: public interest cases; special public interest cases; and European merger cases.