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Blog Post by Analysis Group Authors Considers Sustainability in EU Merger Review
In her 2024 mission letter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tasked Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, with “modernis[ing] the EU’s competition policy to ensure it supports European companies to innovate, compete and lead world-wide and contributes to our wider objectives on competitiveness and sustainability, social fairness and security.” As the Commission advances its review of the Horizontal and Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, questions remain as to how sustainability considerations will be integrated into merger assessments under the revised framework.
In a blog post on the Kluwer Competition Law Blog, Analysis Group Vice President Joshua White, Senior Analyst Claire Paoli, and coauthor Jay Modrall (Norton Rose Fulbright) reflect on the implications of this ongoing review. The authors caution that the Commission’s recent public consultation suggests that, rather than expanding the scope for recognising sustainability benefits, the revised Guidelines may further tighten the “efficiency defence.” As a result, they may, paradoxically, disadvantage transactions between firms that advance sustainability objectives despite their potential contributions to advancing the EU’s sustainability goals. “Fortunately,” they write, the EU’s merger review process “provides the Commission considerable flexibility to address EU policy objectives within an updated framework for the consideration of efficiencies.” A more balanced approach, they conclude, would help the Commission deliver on EVP Ribera’s mandate to modernise competition policy in support of the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal.
Associated People
Joshua White
Managing PrincipalMr White is a consulting and testifying economist who specialises in applying microeconomics and sophisticated econometric modelling to complex litigation and merger-related questions, primarily in matters involving the health care, financial services and technology industries. He has supported clients in various jurisdictions and industries in follow-on competition damages litigation, assessing overcharge, upstream and downstream pass-on and volume effects. He has served as a testifying expert in the UK Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Amsterdam District Court on competition cases.
Mr White has supported high-profile companies with complex merger reviews across multiple jurisdictions, including in the Veolia/Suez, LVMH/Tiffany, Sika/MBCC and Eutelsat/OneWeb mergers. He has also provided evidence to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission (EC), including on behalf of clients involved in cartel investigations, abuse of dominance investigations and mergers. Mr White has also provided support to European financial and competition regulators in coordinated conduct investigations.
Mr White has extensive experience addressing competition and intellectual property (IP) issues in matters related to cutting-edge pharmaceutical products and FRAND licensing questions. As part of this work, he has supported a number of scientific and technical experts in front of courts and regulatory bodies. He also regularly supports pharmaceutical clients on competition issues around market access, pricing, denigration and competition from generic manufacturers.
Mr White has worked in a number of jurisdictions, including the UK, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Belgium and the US. His writing has been published in an array of journals, including the Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, the Competition Law Journal and the Journal of Antitrust Enforcement, and he regularly speaks at international competition law and policy conferences.