A. Introduction

16.001 The European Union (“EU”) needs to be able to control, on competition grounds, the merger or acquisition1 of businesses2 in all sectors of the economy including the shipping, port and shipbuilding sectors. The EU has therefore adopted the Merger Control Regulation (often abbreviated as “MCR”, “EUMR” or “ECMR”), which is Council Regulation 139/2004 of 20 January 2004,3 so as to enable the European Commission4 to adjudicate on whether or not such transactions (i.e. “concentrations”) should be: (a) prohibited (i.e. not permitted to proceed at all);5 (b) allowed to proceed conditionally;6 or (c) permitted unconditionally.7 Of the three options, the unconditional approval is the