The Enterprise Act 2002 (Merger Prenotification) Regulations 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Sections 96 to 100 of the Enterprise Act 2002 enable mergers that qualify for investigation under that Act to be prenotified to the OFT. If such a merger notice is given to the OFT by one of the parties to the merger, a decision regarding reference must be made within certain time limits. These Regulations make further provision in relation to the operation of the merger notice procedures. They provide, inter alia, for the time at which a merger notice is to be treated as received; for the manner in which such a notice can be rejected and withdrawn and the time at which any notice is to be treated as rejected; for the manner in which information requested by the OFT is to be provided or disclosed; for the time at which any merger notice fee is to be treated as paid and the circumstances in which a person is or is not to be treated as acting on behalf of the person giving a merger notice.