Merger control proceedings in Poland in 2020

We would like to present you the report on merger control proceedings in Poland in 2020. The study was prepared by the experts of Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak: Krzysztof Kanton, Damian Kopera and Szymon Murek.

For several years, the number of concentrations notified to the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection ("the President of the OCCP") has been steadily increasing. Last year, in principle, confirmed this trend, although the number of merger filings submitted and decisions issued decreased slightly compared to 2019. In 2020, the President of the OCCP initiated 243 merger control proceedings and issued 255 decisions in such cases. At the same time, 11 cases were referred to the II phase of the proceedings.

As in 2019, so in 2020 the President of the OCCP did not issue any decision refusing to grant clearance for a merger.  Likewise, we have recorded no withdrawals of merger filings following receipt by the parties of the OCCP’s statement of objections to the proposed concentrations. The average length of proceedings in cases completed with a phase I decision was just over 39 calendar days (the shortest proceedings lasted 3 days and the longest 265 days). On the other hand, the average time of proceedings concluded with a phase II decision amounted to slightly more than 137 calendar days5 (the shortest proceedings lasted 40 days, and the longest 235 days). At the same time, only 2 decisions of the President of the OCCP were issued after phase II of the proceedings, while in 9 cases phase II of the proceedings was not completed by the end of 2020.

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