The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on businesses and affected the enforcement priorities of competition authorities around the world. Dawn raids were stopped, authorities have facilitated cooperation between close competitors, and merger reviews of M&A deals have raised additional procedural challenges due to the closure of authorities or the suspension of deadlines. Today, 6 months later, but still in the middle of the crisis, authorities are starting to change their tone. Cartel investigations are picking up again and companies are increasingly confronted with the fact that their business practices, including the cooperation with competitors, are again subject to tougher scrutiny, more rarely justified and picked up by enforcers.

At the same time, the crisis has created many opportunities for market consolidation and M&A activity, including strategic acquisitions of competitors. A careful structuring of merger control processes (often multi-jurisdictional in nature) is more important than ever to ensure an efficient, smooth and, above all, successful merger approval process overall.

This is the second of a four part series. Part one, "Remote casualties - flexibility in investigation and case management," took place on September 30. Part three, "2020 Vision: Dry Shipping update," will take place on October 14. Part four, "Trends in shipping transactions and enforcement," will take place on October 21.