Regulatory Conflict In Cross-Border M&A: A Comparative Analysis Of Competition And Antitrust Review Mechanisms
- IJLLR Journal
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Komal Palariya, Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun
Dr. Laxmi Priya Vinjamuri, Prof., Law College Dehradun, Uttaranchal University, Dehradun
ABSTRACT
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are one of the major sources of global economic integration. However, they are facing competition and antitrust review mechanisms that are fragmented and often conflicting in different jurisdictions. This article reviews the impact of differences in regulatory approaches on the rules of the game and on the legal framework of the major competition regimes, such as India’s Competition Commission (CCI), the United States’ Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, the European Commission (EC), and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Substantial differences in merger thresholds, tests of the substantive assessment, notification requirements, and review timelines often result in opposite regulatory outcomes of the same transaction and, therefore, deal certainty is undermined. The article also points out that conflicting decisions on remedies, in particular when the structural divestitures are ordered by one authority and behavioural commitments are preferred by another, can impose contradictory obligations on merging parties. A few recent high-profile transactions, including digitaleconomy mergers, are illustrating how extraterritorial enforcement and intensified scrutiny of datadriven markets are complicating matters. In response to these developments, the article calls for more effective global coordination and harmonisation through such frameworks as the International Competition Network and also for convergence of standards for market definition, digital-market assessment, and multi-jurisdictional remedy design. The paper argues that in the absence of consistent international collaboration, regulatory conflicts will continue to be a major barrier to cross-border M&A, which in turn will have a negative impact on global capital flows and the creation of competitive market structures.
