| (1) | A party to a small merger— |
| (a) | is not required to notify the Competition Commission of that merger unless the Commission requires it to do so in terms of subsection (3); and |
| (b) | may implement that merger without approval, unless required to notify the Competition Commission in terms of subsection (3). |
| (2) | A party to a small merger may voluntarily notify the Competition Commission of that merger at any time. |
| (3) | Within six months after a small merger is implemented, the Competition Commission may require the parties to that merger to notify the Commission of that merger in the prescribed manner and form if, in the opinion of the Commission, having regard to the provisions of section 12A, the merger— |
| (a) | may substantially prevent or lessen competition; or |
| (b) | cannot be justified on public interest grounds. |
| (4) | A party to a merger contemplated in subsection (3) may take no further steps to implement that merger until the merger has been approved or conditionally approved. |
| (5) | Within 20 business days after all parties to a small merger have fulfilled all their notification requirements in the prescribed manner and form, the Competition Commission— |
| (a) | may extend the period in which it has to consider the proposed merger by a single period not exceeding 40 business days and, in that case, must issue an extension certificate to any party who notified it of the merger: or |
| (b) | after having considered the merger in terms of section 12A, must issue a certificate in the prescribed form— |
| (ii) | approving the merger subject to any conditions: |
| (iii) | prohibiting implementation of the merger, if it has not been implemented; or |
| (iv) | declaring the merger to be prohibited. |
| (6) | If, upon the expiry of the 20 business day period provided for in subsection (5), the Competition Commission has not issued any of the certificates referred to in that subsection or, upon the expiry of an extension period contemplated in subsection (5)(a), the Commission has not issued a certificate referred to in subsection (5)(h), the merger must be regarded as having been approved, subject to section 15. |
| (7) | The Competition Commission must— |
| (a) | publish a notice of the decision in the Gazette; and |
| (b) | issue written reasons for the decision if— |
| (i) | it prohibits or conditionally approves the merger: or |
| (ii) | requested to do so by a party to the merger. |
[Section 13 substituted by section 6 of Notice No. 1354, GG 21880, dated 13 December 2000]
