The European Commission will assess Apple’s acquisition of music service Shazam
Acting on a so-called referral request, the European Commission has decided that Apple’s acquisition of Shazam must be notified to the Commission although the merger does not meet the European merger control thresholds.
Commission decision of 6 February 2018 - Apple/Shazam
By student intern Nina Fold von Bülow
The merger was originally notified by Apple for regulatory clearance in Austria, where the transaction meets the national merger notification threshold. The Austrian authorities, under Article 22(1) of the EU Merger Regulation, submitted a referral request to the European Commission to have the proposed merger examined. They did so believing the merger would affect trade and threaten to significantly affect competition. Iceland, Italy, France, Norway, Spain and Sweden have subsequently joined the request.
On the basis of the documents submitted by Austria and the other countries, the Commission considers that it should, instead, examine the transaction out of concern for its potential cross-border effects on competition. Therefore, under the ‘one-stop-shop’ principle, the merger must only be notified to the Commission.
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