Cambodian Pre-Notification Thresholds for Business Mergers
By
B2B Cambodia
on
The Cambodia Competition Commission (CCC) issued a Decision on Pre-Notification Thresholds for Business Combinations (mergers) in March 2023. This sets out the thresholds for Pre-Notification under the Law on Competition and the CCC has the power to amend the thresholds by written decision.
Law firm DFDL confirmed the news of the thresholds announced on 14 March 2023 and supplied information on what the parties to a proposed business combination are obligated to pre-notify the CCC on.
These include proposed business combination/s if any of the following thresholds are met:
DFDL added that there was "currently no guidance available to determine the scope of the businesses subject to the second and third thresholds above."
The Royal Government of Cambodia has previously issued the Sub-Decree on Requirements and Procedures for Business Combinations dated 6 March 2023 (“Merger Sub-Decree”) which provides information on the "prohibition on anti-competitive business combinations set out in Article 11 of the Law on Competition."
This Merger Sub-Decree extends to any business combination that may significantly prevent, restrict or distort competition in the Cambodian market, regardless of whether it takes place within or outside Cambodia said DFDL.
They added that the information identified in the Merger Sub-Decree provided the basic information about the parties, transaction and business but that no substantive analysis of the implications of the transaction or the relevant markets is required at this stage.
DFDL added that there was "currently no guidance available to determine the scope of the businesses subject to the second and third thresholds above."
The Royal Government of Cambodia has previously issued the Sub-Decree on Requirements and Procedures for Business Combinations dated 6 March 2023 (“Merger Sub-Decree”) which provides information on the "prohibition on anti-competitive business combinations set out in Article 11 of the Law on Competition."
This Merger Sub-Decree extends to any business combination that may significantly prevent, restrict or distort competition in the Cambodian market, regardless of whether it takes place within or outside Cambodia said DFDL.
They added that the information identified in the Merger Sub-Decree provided the basic information about the parties, transaction and business but that no substantive analysis of the implications of the transaction or the relevant markets is required at this stage.
Cambodia Pre-merger Notification Process - CCC
The CCC is not strictly bound to follow the criteria below while a secondary review may also be avoided regardless of the criteria in certain circumstances, such as where a transaction involves a failing firm or foreclosure.- Once a pre-merger notification is received, the CCC has 7 working days to verify that it is complete and 30 working days from the date of submission of a complete notification to conduct a preliminary review.
- If the CCC does not issue a notice to the parties at the end of this period stating that the transaction is subject to secondary review, the transaction may be completed.
- The criteria for determining if a transaction will be subject to secondary review are set out in the Merger Sub-Decree.
- When the CCC notifies the parties that a transaction is subject to secondary review, it will also provide a request for additional information required to conduct its review and the timeline for its submission to the CCC.
- The CCC will have 60 working days from the date the information requested in this notice is provided to conduct the secondary review.
- This review period is subject to two extensions of 30 days each and may also be suspended if the CCC provides a notice requesting additional information until such request is satisfied.