The current version of MAG was published in 2003. We invite your comments on all aspects of the guidelines, including its accessibility to business people.
Comments on the draft guidelines are due by 5pm on Tuesday 9 April 2013. Please send all comments to GuidelinesConsult@comcom.govt.nz
Overview of changes
We have updated MAG to reflect:
- recent Commission decisions and New Zealand cases
- international best practice reflected in the updated merger guidelines in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia
- the Commission’s plain English standard.
The last of these objectives has required substantial redrafting of MAG, but our approach within the guidelines has not changed significantly.
We expect the audience for the revised MAG will include expert and non-expert lawyers and economists, business people, and the Courts. To cater for this wide audience, we intend the Executive Summary to effectively encapsulate the guidelines, while ensuring the body of the guidelines provides fulsome detail to the more in-depth reader.
We also intend that the revised MAG becomes a ‘one stop shop’ for readers on how we assess whether to clear a merger. We have therefore included in MAG a redrafted version of our Merger Clearance Process Guidelines. Before publication, we intend to include the Failing Firms Guidelines and the Divestment Remedies Guidelines as attachments to MAG.
Until the revised guidelines are finalised, we will continue to have regard to the 2003 guidelines.
Timeline
Comments on the draft guidelines are due by 5pm on Tuesday 9 April 2013.
We expect to publish the final version of the revised MAG by the middle of this year. We will then make presentations about the revised MAG to interested parties.
We note that when the Commerce Act (Cartels and Other Matters) Bill passes Parliament, we are likely to need to update elements of these guidelines for any changes the Bill makes to the merger clearance process.
