S.L. 379.8 Art. 12Simplified procedure.

(1) The simplified procedure will apply to the following categories of concentrations that are deemed not to raise serious doubts as to their legality in terms of the provisions of these regulations, unless the Director General in exceptional cases and in view of the economic conditions pertaining to the market and the parties to the concentration deems otherwise:

(i) two or more undertakings acquire joint control of a joint venture, provided that the joint venture has no, or negligible, actual or foreseen activities, within the territory of Malta because the turnover of the joint venture and/or the turnover of the contributed activities is less than €698,812.02 in the territory of Malta and the total value of assets transferred to the joint venture is less than €698,812.02 in the territory of Malta;

(ii) two or more undertakings merge, or one or more undertakings acquire sole or joint control of another undertaking, provided that none of the parties to the concentration are engaged in business activities in the same product and geographical market, or in a product market which is upstream or downstream of a product market in which any other party to the concentration is engaged;

(iii) two or more undertakings merge, or one or more undertakings acquire sole or joint control of another undertaking and two or more of the parties to the concentration are engaged in business activities either in the same product and geographical market and their combined market share is less than 15% or in a product market which is upstream or downstream of a product market in which any other party to the concentration is engaged and their combined market share is less than 25%.

(2) In assessing whether a concentration falls into one of these categories the Director General shall ensure that all relevant circumstances are established with sufficient clarity: Provided that if the relevant markets or the parties’ market shares cannot be established with sufficient clarity, he shall not apply the simplified procedure.

(3) The simplified procedure shall not be applicable to concentrations involving coordination in terms of regulation 4(3).

(4) If the Director General is satisfied that the concentration qualifies for the simplified procedure, he shall issue a short-form decision declaring the concentration lawful in terms of the provisions of these regulations within four weeks from the date of notification pursuant to regulation 9(1) and (7):

Provided that in the period leading to the four weeks deadline, the option of reverting to a normal first phase merger procedure and thus launching investigations and/or adopting a full decision remains open to the Director General, should he judge such action appropriate in the case in question.

(5) Unless otherwise decided by the Director General, the simplified procedure for the approval of concentrations shall also apply to restrictions directly related and necessary to the implementation of the concentration.