COMPETITION ACT: CHANGES PROPOSED FOR MERGER THRESHOLDS & FILING FEES

COMPETITION ACT: CHANGES PROPOSED FOR MERGER THRESHOLDS & FILING FEES

• 27 January 2026
• Trade, Industry & Competition
• SA Legal Academy

Please note: 1) On 8 May 2026, notices were gazetted announcing the finalisation of proposed adjustments to both merger thresholds and filing fees. They came into force retrospectively on 1 May 2026. 2) On 14 May 2026, the Competition Commission issued a media statement welcoming the adjustments, which are expected to ‘reduce red tape and ensure that mandatory notification remains focused on transactions most likely to raise competition or public interest concerns‘.

The Department of Trade, Industry & Competition has gazetted two notices separately calling for public comments on draft amendments to:

• the September 2017 determination of merger thresholds in terms of section 11 of the 1998 Competition Act (noting that the method of calculation remains unchanged), and
• the December 2018 Competition Commission rule on merger filing fees (with a view to making the necessary inflationary adjustments).

Both sets of proposals were developed in consultation with the Competition Commission.

The deadline for input is 10 March 2026.

• proposed adjustments to merger thresholds
• proposed amendments to merger filing fees

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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