Part of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Bulgaria could be left out of the control of the Competition Protection Commission (CPC) according to proposed texts for legislation changes that were to be approved by Government in November 2007, mediapool.bg said on October 17.

The changes would move up the turnover threshold above which participants in M&As should ask for permission from the CPC before completing the deals. Currently, companies with a total turnover of less than 15 million leva were allowed to merge without the approval of the anti-trust body. If the proposed amendments enter the Competition Protection Act, the new threshold would be 20 million leva.

The turnover threshold was necessary because its current level was too low and the new one would not be so high to keep important M&A deals out of sight of the CPC, the Commission’s chairman Petko Nikolov said, as quoted by mediapool.bg.

After the amendments become a fact, which was expected to happen next spring, CPC’s inspectors would have more freedom to investigate businesses and business associations that are suspected of secret cartel agreements, Nikolov said. The CPC was now only allowed to first ask the suspects to voluntarily provide documents and software for checks, while the search was authorised by the respective district court, he said.

For unveiling price-fixing agreements, the new piece of legislation also provided for companies that co-operate in the investigation process to be relieved of property sanctions, with regard to the level of their participation in the schemes. European and world experience in the field had shown that price-fixings could be proven in court only if a member of the secret cartel agreed to co-operate against a remittance of or decrease in the sanction the law prescribed for the violation, mediapool.bg said.