55. Section 18 of the Act of 2002 is amended—

(a) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (1):

“(1) Where—

(a) in relation to a proposed merger or acquisition, in the most recent financial year—

(i) the aggregate turnover in the State of the undertakings involved is not less than €50,000,000, and

(ii) the turnover in the State of each of 2 or more of the undertakings involved is not less than €3,000,000, or

(b) a proposed merger or acquisition falls within a class of merger or acquisition specified in an order under subsection (5),

each of the undertakings involved in the merger or acquisition shall notify the Commission in writing, and provide full details, of the proposal to put the merger or acquisition into effect.

(1A) A notification under subsection (1) —

(a) shall be made before the proposed merger or acquisition is put into effect, and

(b) may be made after any of the following applicable events occurs:

(i) one of the undertakings involved has publicly announced an intention to make a public bid or a public bid is made but not yet accepted;

(ii) the undertakings involved demonstrate to the Commission a good faith intention to conclude an agreement or a merger or acquisition is agreed;

(iii) in relation to a scheme of arrangement, a scheme document is posted to shareholders.”,

(b) in paragraph (c)(i) of subsection (2) —

(i) by substituting “(ii) ” for “(iii) ”,

(ii) by substituting “references to turnover in the State” for “references in them to the world-wide turnover and turnover in the State”, and

(iii) by substituting “references to turnover in the State” for “references, respectively, to the world-wide turnover and turnover in the State”,

(c) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) In the case of a proposed merger or acquisition that is not required to be notified under subsection (1), any of the undertakings involved in the merger or acquisition may, before putting the merger or acquisition into effect, notify the Commission in writing, and provide full details, of the proposal to put the merger or acquisition into effect, and such notification may be made after any of the applicable events referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1A) occurs.”,

(d) in subsection (4), by substituting “the Council Regulation” for “Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89 on the control of concentrations between undertakings”,

(e) in subsection (9), by substituting “an undertaking, or the person in control of an undertaking,” for “the person in control of an undertaking”,

(f) in subsection (10), by substituting “the undertaking or person” for “the person”,

(g) in subsection (12), by inserting “or if the Commission is of the opinion that the full details required under subsection (1) or (3), or all the specified information requested under section 20(2), have not been provided,” after “material respect,”,

(h) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (12):

“(12A) Notwithstanding section 19(2), the Commission may, for the purposes of this Part, request or accept notification of a merger or acquisition to which subsection (1) applies but which was purported to have been put into effect without having been notified in accordance with that subsection.”,

(i) in subsection (13), by substituting “the Council Regulation” for “Council Regulation (EEC) No. 4064/89 on the control of concentrations between undertakings”, and

(j) in subsection (14), by substituting “the Council Regulation” for “Council Regulation No. 4064/89”.