The Enterprise Act 2002 (Protection of Legitimate Interests) Order 2003
Under the European Merger Regulations (ECMR) (Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89 of 21st December 1989 on the control of concentrations between undertakings as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 1310/97 of 30th June 1997), if a merger satisfies certain jurisdictional thresholds, that is, it is a concentration with a “Community dimension”, the European Commission (EC) has sole jurisdiction over competition issues and a Member State is precluded from applying its own competition laws (unless a Member State makes a request for the case to be referred back to it for consideration under domestic competition law pursuant to Article 9 of the ECMR and this is agreed to by the EC, or if a Member State invokes Article 296(1)(b) of the EC Treaty ).