Efficiency Defence in the European Merger Regulation

​​I. Introduction

Since the enactment of the first Merger Regulation¹¹Council Regulation (EEC) No 4064/89 of 21 December 1989 on the control of concentrations between undertakings [1989] OJ L 257/90 P 13. in 1989, economics has become an increasingly important factor with regard to European merger control. The revision of the Council Regulation in 2004 and the subsequent publication of the European Commission’s Guidelines on Horizontal Mergers marked the beginning of the “more economic approach" towards competition law.²²Arndt Christiansen, ‘Der „more economic approach“ in der EU-Fusionskontrolle – eine kritische Würdigung’ (Deutsche Bank Research, 2006) <https://www.dbresearch.de/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_DE-PROD/PROD0000000000195710/Der more economic approach in der EU-Fusionskontrolle - eine kritische Würdigung.PDF> accessed 18 January 2017, 1. With this approach, industrial economics and the use of quantitative models are more important in assessing mergers.