On 7 April 2020, the European Commission updated the information on website in relation to special measures in place in relation to the notification of mergers under the EU Merger Regulation due to the 2019 novel coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19).

On 13 March, the Directorate General Competition (DG COMP) published a notice on its website encouraging firms to delay merger notifications originally planned, where possible, and to use electronic means to notify their mergers, in view of the disruptions caused by COVID-19 on the activity of administrations and businesses (see Legal update, COVID-19: Commission announces special measures for merger notifications).

Since then, DG COMP states that it has put in place a number of additional measures to ensure business continuity and has continued to ensure the implementation of the Merger Regulation. During this period, the Commission has adopted a number of merger decisions and processed notifications filed by companies. However, given the disturbances caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, DG COMP faces difficulties in some cases in collecting information from the notifying parties and third parties, such as their customers, competitors and suppliers. Therefore, DG COMP continues to encourage parties to discuss the timing of notifications of transactions with the relevant case team.

DG COMP will deal with notifications to the best of its ability and states that it stands ready to deal with cases where firms can show "very compelling" reasons to proceed with a merger notification without delay. As noted previously, DG COMP is temporarily accepting (and actually encouraging) all submissions to be made in digital format, with the delivery of paper originals to be arranged at a later time.

DG COMP will provide updated information as the situation evolves.