The decision arrived as France simultaneously raised its merger notification thresholds for the first time in over two decades. In April 2026, the French Parliament adopted a simplification law increasing those thresholds, a move the FCA had been signaling support for amid a documented surge in filings—transactions reviewed by the authority increased 59 percent between 2010 and 2025, reaching a record 328 notifications in 2025 alone.
Dealmakers should treat this as a material shift in French merger enforcement. Transactions that no longer require mandatory filing under the raised thresholds remain vulnerable to FCA challenge under abuse-of-dominance provisions if the authority views them as anti-competitive. The combination of higher filing thresholds and aggressive ex post enforcement creates new uncertainty around deal sizing and timing, particularly for acquisitions by market-dominant players in concentrated sectors.