A Comparative Study on Substantial Provisions Regarding Merger Control in Light of Competition Law in EU and Iranian Legal Systems

From one perspective, provisions regarding the merger control in Iran and EU legal systems can be divided into two categories: "substantial provisions" and "procedural provisions".In order to control all types of concentrations including merger and takeover, EU has recognized a same test albeit different from other anti-competitive practices named as "Significantly Impede Effective Competition (SIEC)", which may be materialized as a result of various practices such as "creation or strengthening of a dominant position". On the other hand, Iranian legal system has recognized two different test on merger and takeover: "creation of Intense concentration" on merger and "distortion of competition" on takeover. Moreover Iranian legal system has provided the public provisions on anti-competitive practices as well as on mergers, while EU legal system has provided special and different provisions for merger control from competition law point of view rather than other anti-competitive practices. This article seeks to compare provisions of mentioned legal systems and to describe defects of provisions of Iranian legal system and make recommendation about it In this regard.