Merger reforms update: Voluntary notification now available

On 1 July 2025, the transitional period for the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) merger control regime commenced, allowing for voluntary notification of transactions ahead of the implementation of the new regime on 1 January 2026.

For further detail on the merger control regime, please see our previous article here.

The transitional period allows acquirers to voluntarily commence the notification processes under the new regime, prior to its official commencement. During this transition period, until 31 December 2025, parties can elect to:

• make a voluntary notification for assessment under the new regime; or
• continue to use the existing informal regime, however, if the ACCC has not completed an informal review before 1 January 2026, the new regime will apply and parties will need to re-notify ACCC. For this reason, the ACCC has advised that any informal review requests should be submitted prior to October.

For any transactions likely to occur after 1 January 2026 and at risk of being caught by the new merger regime, the parties should consider making a voluntary notification for assessment under the new regime, particularly where there may be insufficient time to obtain informal clearance.