Amendments to Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill to prevent acquisitions by foreign powers

 

Amendments to Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill to prevent acquisitions by foreign powers

 

Amendments to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill have been tabled, to amend the Enterprise Act 2002 to introduce a new regime for mergers involving newspaper enterprises and foreign powers.

Under the amendments, the Secretary of State must give the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) a “foreign state intervention notice” if the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds for suspecting that it is or may be the case that a "foreign state newspaper merger situation" has been or will be created.

A foreign state newspaper merger situation will arise where as a result of two or more enterprises ceasing to be distinct, a foreign power is able to control or influence the policy of the person carrying on the newspaper enterprise, or is able to control or influence that policy to a greater extent. The turnover test is reduced to £2 million for such mergers.

The CMA must then report on whether such a merger situation has been or will be created. If it reports that this is the case, then the Secretary of State must make an order containing such provision as the Secretary of State considers reasonable and practicable for the purposes of reversing or preventing the creation of the identified foreign state newspaper merger situation.

 

The DMCC Bill is due to have its third reading in the House of Lords on 26 March 2024.

https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/54855/documents/4610