EU seeks feedback on merger rules revamp amid pressure from businesses

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -EU antitrust regulators are seeking feedback from companies and Europeans on their proposed overhaul of merger rules which telecom providers hope will place more emphasis on benefits from innovation and investment.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on Thursday, giving interested parties until September 3 to respond.

The EU executive outlined 7 topics - competitiveness and resilience, market power, innovation, decarbonisation, digitalisation, efficiencies, defence and labour considerations - on which it wants feedback.

The EU move came amid criticism from some businesses that competition regulators are not giving enough weight to claims of innovation and investment to counter regulatory worries about price hikes and too few players resulting from mergers.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the aim is to modernise EU merger rules to take into account market trends and geopolitical developments.

"This is a pivotal moment for Europe, and it is only by evolving that we can ensure that our merger control policy continues to serve people, drive innovation, and strengthen Europe's resilience and leadership," she said in a statement.

Still, observers do not expect any radical shifts in EU merger rules which date from 2004 and have been tweaked several times since then, especially as they have generally received the backing of Europe's top court.

Ribera could face pushback from national watchdogs following a joint statement by competition watchdogs in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal last month criticising pressure for major changes to the rules.

The regulators took a shot at telecoms operators, saying a reduced number of players can also weaken incentives to improve service quality, network coverage, density and innovation as well as undermine resilience and supply security.

"The narrative that fragmentation in the electronic communications sector, hindering investment and innovation, allegedly results from unduly strict competition rules is misplaced," they wrote.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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