As long-awaited, the Competition Regulatory Authority ("CRA") has recently started to operate on a regular basis and is now able to receive prior notifications of concentrations between undertakings pursuant to the applicable competition legal framework - Law No. 10/2013, of 11 April 2013 and respective regulations, approved by Decree No. 97/2014, of 31 December.

To this end, the Regulation on Notification Forms for Concentrations Between Undertakings was approved and published, by means of CRA Resolution No. 01/2021, of 22 April.

Prior notification of concentrations between undertakings must be made by filling-in one of two types of forms: Regular Form or the Simplified Form.

The notification through the Simplified Form is reserved for concentration transactions which, due to certain specific features, do not raise significant obstacles to competition.

The notification must be accompanied by all documents required by the respective Form and its submission is subject to payment of the applicable fee. It is further expected that the fees previously approved will be revised, in order to enable the effective notification of concentrations and to respond to public concerns expressed by the private sector.

The regular operation of the CRA and the implementation of the procedures to be observed for purposes of prior notification of concentration transactions represent a major development in the implementation of countless transactions between companies, in particular mergers, acquisitions of shareholdings and joint venture agreements. From now on, it is essential that entities involved in this type of transactions conduct a rigorous analysis on the need for the respective transaction to be notified to the CRA.

For more information on this Alert please contact: [email protected]