Mergers

The Competition Authority is responsible for monitoring mergers of companies falling within the scope of Article 17 of the Competition Act, cf. Rules  No. 1390/2020 relating to the notification of mergers.

The Competition Authority may annul a merger, or set conditions for a merger, if the Authority believes that the merger will prevent effective competition by bringing about or strengthening a dominant position. Mergers must be reported to the Competition Authority if they involve undertakings whose combined turnover will amount to ISK 3 billion or more and at least two of the undertakings involved in the merger have a minimum annual turnover of ISK 300 million each. The turnover shall be determined based on the preceding fiscal year, or, as applicable, the 12 months preceding the merger, and include the turnover of the parent undertakings and subsidiaries of the undertakings involved in the merger, undertakings within the same group of undertakings, and the turnover of undertakings directly controlled by parties to the merger.

Notifications of mergers meeting the above conditions shall be delivered to the Competition Authority no later than one week after an agreement on a merger has been concluded or the merger has been announced publicly. The information to be included in the notification is detailed in the annex to the Rules on the Notification of Mergers (Merger List). The Competition Authority may grant an exception from providing certain information requested pursuant to the Merger List if the Authority is of the opinion that the information is not necessary for a review of the merger in question. However, a reasoned request for such exception must be received by the Authority before the requirement to notify takes effect.

If the Competition Authority believes that further investigation is warranted of the impact of a merger on competition, the undertakings in question shall be notified within 25 work days of delivery of the notice of the merger. A decision on the annulment of a merger or establishment of conditions for a merger shall be made no later than three months from the time that the undertakings were sent a notice concerning further investigation of the merger. In order to ensure that a potential intervention relating to a merger will be fully effective, the Competition Authority may also prohibit a merger temporarily until a final conclusion has been reached concerning the impact of the merger.