The Enterprise Act makes important changes to the merger control regime in the UK. The substantive assessment of mergers will be based on a ‘substantial lessening of competition’ (SLC) test, rather than the more nebulous public interest test that currently applies.
Decisions on whether or not to refer mergers to the Competition Commission will be taken by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), rather than the Secretary of State (although the Secretary of State will retain a residual power to refer cases raising exceptional public interest issues).
