OECD Published COVID-19 Enforcement Guidance

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned enforcers that structural remedies may not be sufficient to remedy anticompetitive deals during the COVID-19 pandemic and urged authorities to be “extremely quick” when dealing with collaboration guidance requests.

Last week, the OECD issued guidance to help governments and antitrust authorities navigate issues around merger control, competitor collaboration and exploitative pricing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Merger control 

Without a thorough merger review, there is a serious risk that the coronavirus pandemic could lead to higher market concentration and market power in several sectors, causing price increases, harm to innovation and productivity, the OECD’s competition division stated in its guidance on merger control last Monday, June 1.  

The OECD warned that during unparalleled economic uncertainty, competition authorities will face key challenges in exercising merger control powers and increased pressure to speed up merger reviews. These challenges include increased uncertainty about how markets will evolve and an influx of failing firm defence claims as companies try to acquire competitors in financial difficulty, reported Global Competition Review. 

Full Content: OECD, OECD, OECD

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