L’influence du droit français sur le droit tunisien des concentrations économiques
Riadh Jaidane
This paper on the influence of French competition law on Tunisian law of merger
control provides an introduction to and survey of the rules of antitrust law governing
business mergers affecting the Tunisian market. These rules have been introduced
into the 1991 Act on Competition and Prices by Act 95-42 of April 24, 1995. They
largely follow the model of merger control established by the French Ordonnance
No. 86 – 1243 of December 1, 1986, and have not been changed since even though
the French legislator has modified merger control considerably by the Act on the
New Economic Regulation of May 15, 2001. In some instances, Tunisian law also
follows the example of the European Community’s Regulation 4064/89 on merger
control rather than that of French law, in particular as regards the very concept of
a merger. Whereas most of the rules adopt general principles of merger control, such
as the setting of thresholds for control (defined cumulatively in terms of market share
and turnover), the requirement of prior notification of a merger and of prompt
reaction by the competition authority (the Council for Competition) within short and
definite delays, the application of merger control to horizontal as well as to vertical
and conglomerate mergers, and the limitation of substantive control to the creation
or the reinforcement of a position of market dominance, there are two distinct
features of Tunisian merger control which bring it within the French model : First,
the ultimate decision on the admission or non-admission of a merger, which results
in or reinforces market dominance, rests with the Minister of the Economy and with
the Minister of the industrial sector concerned, the Council for competition having
only an advisory and investigative role to play. Second, as a matter of a substantive
law, a merger may not be enjoined simply because it creates or reinforces a position
of market dominance, but only if, in addition and on balance, its negative effects on
the market outweigh its potential for economic benefits, i.e. only if the “bilan
économique” of the merger is negative.
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Des conditions identiques d'exercice du contrôle
— 2.1 Le champ d’application
— 2.2 Une application cumulative des seuils
• 3 Les similitudes des systèmes procéduraux
— 3.1 La notification
— 3.2 L’appréciation de la concentration
• 4 Conclusion