In March 2012 the government adopted a new bylaw regulating the content of merger notifications.
The main change relates to the provision of relevant data, stating that one set of data or documents must be provided in the filing process and a second set may be provided, but is not required.
This approach is not a significant change from the previous bylaw. However, the new bylaw does significantly broaden the scope of notification by including new categories, such as:
- the degree of quota influence or other barrier and transportation costs on imports and estimates of total imports into Macedonia;
- a description of the manner in which parties to the concentration produce goods, determine the price of products or services and distribute goods or services;
- a description of the nature and degree of vertical integration of each party to the concentration compared with its competitors;
- a description of the distribution channels and service networks which exist on the relevant markets;
- a description of the demand structure (buyer preferences, product differentiation, the cost of switching supplier, concentration or dispersion of buyers, segmentation of buyers, distribution agreements or other types of long-term agreement, whether state bodies and other bodies which are bound by public procurement laws appear as clientele).
Given that the Competition Authority can request a non-mandatory set of data, it is advisable to provide this at the time of filing in order to prevent additional requests by the authority, which can cause delay in issuing decisions. It remains to be seen in practice whether the Competition Authority will extensively apply the new bylaw and require the provision of all data (mandatory and non-mandatory), even in circumstances where concentrations raise no competition concerns.
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