Zambia CCPC issues new merger guidelines

Mohlahlego Cornelia Matumba

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) of Zambia released its guidelines for merger regulation in August 2015. This is important for providing clarity on the process for merger regulation in Zambia and provide the commission and stakeholders with a structured and transparent framework for these assessments.1

Key features of the guidelines relate to what constitutes a notifiable merger wherein the Commission considers change of control, local nexus and threshold.

  • Mergers that occur outside of Zambia but have a local connection (local nexus) either through their presence in the Zambian markets through export sales or presence of their subsidiaries, constitute a notifiable merger.2
  • Threshold for notification of a merger is a combined annual turnover or assets of ZMK 15 000 000.
  • The notification fee is set at 0.1% of the parties’ combined turnover or assets, whichever is higher.

Notes

  1. Mbale, R. ‘CCPC finalises guidelines for merger regulation’ (20 August 2015). Zambia Daily Mail.
  2. Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). (2015). CCPC Guidelines for Merger Regulations.