The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has welcomed the raised financial thresholds for the mandatory notifications of mergers which has been signed into law
The increased financial thresholds, which will take effect from July 1st, will allow the CCPC to focus on mergers most likely to impact competition in markets across Ireland.
The CCPC has said the change will also reduce regulatory burdens and costs for businesses engaged in deals which clearly will not impact competition.
Under its mandate, mergers and acquisitions which meet certain financial thresholds must be notified to the CCPC for review.
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Currently, a notification must be submitted to the CCPC if the aggregate turnover of the businesses involved in the deal is €60 million or more, and if the turnover of at least two of the individual businesses involved is €10 million or more.
Once notified, the commission is obliged to conduct an investigation after which it can give a deal the green light, reject it or approve it certain subject to conditions based on how the mergers or acquisitions will affect competition in the sector.
From July 1st, the aggregate turnover threshold will rise to €100 million, while the individual business threshold will rise to €15 million.
Geoffrey Gray, a member of the CCPC, said: “The current merger notifications have been in place since 2019, when we had 47 merger notifications. By 2025, this number had doubled.”
In the CCPC’s annual report at the end of 2025, it noted that there had been a 32 per cent increase in merger notifications from 2023 to 2025.
Overall, 90 mergers were notified to it in 2025, up from 82 the year before and 68 in 2023.
“The increase is driven by several factors including inflation, which has meant that some deals now need to be notified that didn’t before, increasing regulatory burden on businesses,” Gray added.
“We welcome the revised merger thresholds, which will allow the CCPC to focus on high-value mergers that may impact markets.”
Where contemplated mergers will have a combined turnover between €60 million and €100 million, or between €10-15 million individually, they will be impacted by the change of law from July 1st.
Parties involved in these mergers can choose to either notify their merger to the CCPC before July 1st, or choose not to notify the merger after July 1st.
Mergers being contemplated which are either above the €100 million aggregate threshold/ €15 million individual threshold, or below the €60 aggregate/ €10 million individual thresholds will remain unaffected by the change, as will their respective obligations to notify or not notify.
