Relevant legislation and statutory standards

Danish merger control is governed by sections 12–12(g) of the Danish Competition Act. Danish merger control was introduced into the Competition Act in 2000. Denmark was one of the last Member States of the European Union (EU) to implement a merger control regime.

The Danish merger control regime is based on the principles of EU merger control (European Union (EU) Merger Regulation). Therefore, when interpreting the Danish merger control regulation, the relevant EU practice and Commission notices are taken into account to the extent that no specific local rules exist.

The Competition Act was amended with effect from 1 February 2005, changing the substantive test to the EU test (the SIEC test). Moreover, the obligation to notify within a speciic time limit was changed to an obligation to notify prior to implementation.

Decision-making bodies and enforcement authority(ies)

Danish merger control is administered by the following three independent administrative bodies, all of which are established and regulated by the Competition Act:

• the Competition Authority (‘Konkurrencestyrelsen’);

• the Competition Council (‘Konkurrencerådet’);

• the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) (‘Konkurrenceankenæævnet’).