The Dutch House of Representatives has approved a revised ACM call-in regime, alongside higher ordinary merger thresholds and safeguards intended to improve legal certainty.

On 22 September 2026, the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) approved the Wet inroepbevoegdheid ACM. The bill would give the Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) a new power to review certain transactions that fall below the ordinary Dutch merger-control thresholds, if there are indications that they may significantly impede effective competition in the Netherlands. The reform is aimed in particular at serial acquisitions in local or regional markets and so-called killer acquisitions, where an established business acquires a small innovative competitor before it can develop into a meaningful competitive constraint.

What has changed since the original proposal?

We first covered the bill introduced by MP Bushoff in our blog post of 30 April 2026. The version now forwarded to the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) differs from the original proposal in several important respects.

• Higher turnover threshold for use of the call-in power. The original proposal would have allowed the ACM to call in a transaction if at least one undertaking concerned generated Dutch turnover of more than EUR 30 million and the ACM had reason to believe that the transaction may significantly impede effective competition in the Netherlands. Following a June 2026 note of amendment, the bill approved by the Tweede Kamer sets the threshold at EUR 50 million in Dutch turnover for at least one undertaking concerned. This reduces the universe of transactions potentially exposed to the new regime.
• Sectoral scope to be determined by governmental decree. The Tweede Kamer adopted  an important amendment, which limits the new regime to categories of undertakings designated by governmental decree (AMvB). The approved bill therefore no longer provides for a generally applicable call-in power across the economy. The categories of undertakings ultimately designated by governmental decree remain to be determined, but the parliamentary debate and previous ACM statements point to markets where local or regional roll-up strategies may reduce consumer choice, including childcare, GP practices, veterinary practices and car repair services. The ACM has also previously referred to niche markets, such as sector-specific software, insurance, special-interest products and specialised food products, as areas where below-threshold acquisitions can still affect competition. The AMvB will therefore be a key instrument in defining the practical reach of the new regime.
• Higher ordinary merger-control thresholds. Under the current Dutch merger-control regime, a concentration is generally notifiable if the undertakings concerned have combined worldwide turnover exceeding EUR 150 million and at least two of them each achieve more than EUR 30 million turnover in the Netherlands. The bill increases the individual Dutch turnover threshold to EUR 75 million. The reasoning behind it is that the threshold had remained unchanged for more than twenty years, without adjustment for inflation. In addition, the change is expected to reduce mandatory notifications and to free ACM resources for potentially problematic below-threshold transactions that may be reviewed under the new call-in power.
• Formal reporting mechanism for third parties. Any natural or legal person will be able to alert the ACM to a suspected concentration that may significantly impede effective competition. In practice, this gives competitors, customers and other market participants a clearer route to bring below-threshold transactions to the ACM’s attention, increasing the risk that strategically sensitive deals in designated categories may attract scrutiny even where no mandatory filing is required. The ACM will remain responsible for deciding whether the information provided warrants further action.
• ACM guidance before entry into force. Finally, the bill foresees that the regime will not enter into force until the ACM has publicly consulted on draft guidance. The consultation must cover, at a minimum, the circumstances in which the ACM may use the call-in power, concrete examples and the operation of the proposed informal guidance mechanism. This will be an important step in determining how predictable the new regime will be in practice.

The Tweede Kamer rejected motions that would have delayed further consideration of the bill pending additional external scrutiny of its wider economic effects, including regulatory burdens, legal uncertainty and the potential impact on start-up financing. The resulting package is a compromise, raising mandatory notification thresholds while giving the ACM a targeted call-in power for potentially problematic below-threshold transactions in designated categories. For dealmakers, the practical effect is likely to be a narrower mandatory notification net, but increased strategic uncertainty for transactions in categories of undertakings ultimately designated by governmental decree.

Next steps

The bill has now been forwarded to the Eerste Kamer, which cannot amend the bill and must either accept or reject the text as currently proposed. The timetable for the Eerste Kamer’s consideration will be determined by the Committee for Economic Affairs, Climate and Green Growth on 13 October 2026. If the Eerste Kamer approves the bill, it will enter into force on a date set by Royal Decree, after publication in the Staatsblad. Before the call-in power becomes operational, the government will need to designate the relevant categories of undertakings by governmental decree and the ACM will need to consult publicly on draft guidance.