Part 1: Digital Markets Chapter 5: Mergers
Chapter 5 (Mergers) is concerned with imposing a duty on designated undertakings (or, where a designated undertaking is part of a larger corporate group, the whole group) to report certain possible mergers involving them to the CMA before they take place. It also requires designated undertakings (or, where there is a larger corporate group, the members of the group) not to allow a reported possible merger to take place until the report has been accepted as sufficient by the CMA and then a period of five working days has elapsed. The purpose of these requirements is to ensure that the CMA is made aware of anticipated mergers involving designated undertakings (or larger corporate groups) that will be harmful to competition in the UK, and to give the CMA sufficient information and time to decide, before a reported possible merger takes place, whether to open an investigation into the possible merger under the merger control regime set out in Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002, and whether to impose restrictions on the possible merger (such as a block on the integration of the enterprises involved) while an investigation is ongoing, through an initial enforcement order under section 72 of that Act.