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Turnover thresholds lowered as from 1 January 2008
The turnover thresholds for registering mergers with the Netherlands Competition Authority [Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit, NMa] were lowered on 1 January 2008.
The reduction is intended to facilitate market competition and prevent a situation in which a single care provider becomes too powerful.
It should also give consumers more choice.
Starting 1 January, any merger between health care providers must be reported to the NMa if the merger partners’ joint turnover exceeds EUR 55 million a year (formerly, EUR 113 million a year).
Reporting is also required if two or more of the merger partners have each recorded an annual turnover in the Netherlands of more than EUR 10 million (formerly EUR 30 million).
The text of the decision makes clear that it targets parties other than the providers of long-term health care.
It also pertains to providers of home care, elderly care, disabled care and mental health care.
Hospitals, general practitioners, pharmacies, and maternity care providers are also included, as are household care providers.
As the group of relevant parties is quite large, a new concept – "care-related turnover" – has been introduced.
If the individual care-related turnover of at least two of the merger partners exceeds EUR 5.5 million, the merger is subject to the decision.
The aim is to prevent cleaning companies that provide household care services from falling within the scope of the decision, for example.
Mergers between health care providers subject to this interim arrangement must be reported to the NMa before they take effect.
The NMa assesses the merger within a four-week period to determine whether it will significantly restrict competition.
If so, then the NMa will require a licence for the merger, and the merger partners will need to submit a licence application.
The NMa then assesses the licence application within a 13-week period to determine whether a licence can be issued.
The NMa does not issue decisions free of charge. It charges EUR 15,000 to assess a reported merger and EUR 30,000 to assess a licence application.
For more information, please contact Edwin Schotanus or Marg Janssen,
Market Group Health Care.
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