Rethinking efficiencies in EU merger control

Welcome to our three-part blog on the role of efficiencies in EU merger control.

With the draft EU merger guidelines expected in the coming weeks, there is broad consensus that efficiencies must play a greater role in the assessment of mergers. The EUMR requires the Commission to take "substantiated and likely efficiencies" into account but leaves the detail to the guidelines. And the devil, as always, is in the detail.

In each part of this series, we will look at one element of the three-part efficiencies test under the 2004 guidelines:

• benefit to consumers
• merger specificity
• verifiability