On July 28, 2019 the Israeli Competition Authority (the “ICA“) published a new merger regulation draft (the “Draft“) and is seeking comments from the public. In the attached legal update, we describe the key features of the Draft. The Draft has two principal elements:
At first glance, the proposed amendment in the Draft for increasing the sales turnover threshold may result in the lessening of the regulatory burden. However, the other proposed changes included in the Draft (which are described in the full version of the legal update) lead to the conclusion that the proposed amendment may significantly increase the regulatory burden both with regard to the increased scope of transactions for which the Director General’s approval will be required, and with regard to the increased scope of the disclosure obligation. These outcomes would be contrary to the regulatory relief objective of Amendment 21 of the Economic Competition Law, 5748-1988 which was passed earlier this year.
Please find the full legal update here (Hebrew)