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Jeremy Jose

ACCC once opposed the merger shake-up it now proposes

Like Alice in Wonderland, the competition watchdog’s position on an informal process for clearing takeovers has turned upside down.

There is something about the merger reform debate that makes me wonder if Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, is involved. For those who have been around competition law long enough, the debate feels upside down.

Just over 20 years ago, the business community was up in arms about the ACCC’s merger review process. Amid concerns about timing and transparency, there was a concerted push to move away from the ACCC’s “informal” process to a legislated regime.

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Jeremy Jose is a partner in the Competition, Consumer + Market Regulation team at Gilbert + Tobin and worked at the ACCC from 2007-16, 6 years of which were in the Merger Investigation team.

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/accc-once-opposed-the-merger-shake-up-it-now-proposes-20240212-p5f44y