Brattle Experts Make Recommendations for EC Draft Merger Guideline Implementation in New Consultation Response
In a new consultation response submitted to the European Commission (EC), Brattle competition experts make several recommendations focused on implementing the EC’s draft Merger Guidelines, including how concrete efficiency claims should be submitted, tested, and weighed in practice.
The draft Merger Guidelines recognize that mergers may produce both direct and dynamic efficiencies, and they require each to be demonstrated through a theory of benefit that is verifiable, merger-specific, and beneficial to consumers. For implementation of the Guidelines, the authors propose:
- First, invite parties to submit an “efficiency claim sheet” for each asserted benefit.
- Second, market-test concrete propositions that cannot be verified from the parties’ files alone, such as customer valuation, adoption, or technical feasibility.
- Third, organize evidence around the five mechanisms developed in this submission.
- Fourth, provide practical guidance on timing, discounting, pass-through, and double-counting, either in the final Guidelines or in accompanying Best Practices.
“Efficiencies, Static and Dynamic: An Economics Submission to the European Commission’s Consultation on the Draft Merger Guidelines” was prepared by Principals Dr. Can Çeliktemur, Dr. Lucrezio Figurelli, Mihael Raveggi, and Associate Manos Perdikakis. The full consultation response is available below.
