The community's efforts to replace this thicket with one-stop shopping in Brussels culminated in the adoption of the merger regulation which will become effective Sept. 21.

In the United States too, corporations and regulators have been pushing for some standardization of the confusing patchwork of merger regulations across the globe.

A merger regulation was first proposed in 1973 by the Commission.

In its statement, American Electric acknowledged that the Seeboard deal was "conditional only on the European Commission approving the transaction under its merger regulations."

In 1989, after years of discussion within the EC, a specific merger regulation was introduced.

The Commission believes that the current provisions of the merger regulation allow for efficient and appropriate assessment procedures.

Let me turn to the merger regulation and competence for cases under the two-thirds rule, which a couple of Members mentioned.

We have had the merger regulation since 1989.

For more detailed guidance on the cross-border merger regulations, please see the BIS guidance note which can be found at www.berr.gov.uk/bbf/eu-company-law/directives/page19528.html.

"We started the review when the merger regulation had no critics," he said.