Today's judgment by the Court of Justice annuls the Commission's decisions to examine the proposed acquisition of GRAIL by Illumina. In those decisions, the Commission accepted requests by Belgium, France, Greece, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway to review the transaction pursuant to Article 22(3) of the Merger Regulation. We will carefully study the judgment and its implications.
There will continue to be a need to review mergers that have a competitive impact in Europe. The Commission's 2021 Evaluation on the procedural aspects of EU merger control found, after a public consultation, extensive engagement and research into deal activity, that certain transactions that do not reach EU notification thresholds may nonetheless be harmful to competition in Europe. A company with limited turnover may still play a significant competitive role on the market, as a start-up with significant potential, or as an important innovator. Killer acquisitions seek to neutralize small but promising companies as a possible source of competition. These companies' size is often dwarfed by the large corporations that seek to acquire them, and they should be protected against the risk of elimination.
Going forward, in compliance with today's judgment, the Commission will continue to accept referrals made under Article 22 of the Merger Regulation by Member States that have jurisdiction over a concentration under their national rules where the applicable legal requirements are met. In the last few years, several Member States have introduced provisions allowing them to request the notification of transactions that do not meet national thresholds, in situations where they might have a significant competitive impact. The possibilities for referrals to the Commission under Article 22, in compliance with today's judgment, are thus already more extensive than they were at the time of the Illumina/GRAIL referral. More generally, we will consider the next steps to ensure that the Commission is able to review those few cases where a deal would have an impact in Europe but does not otherwise meet the EU notification thresholds.
