Number Four in my look back at 2022…..

This was the year in which there were more Phase 1 merger interventions than unconditional clearances (among Phase1 decisions published during the year) – for the first time.

Despite the very low number of published Phase 1 decisions, the number of remedy decisions was well above the CMA average (10 versus 6) and the highest since 2017.

The number of reference-to-Phase-2 decisions was just above the average for previous years (11 versus 10).

Also:

Between 2017 and 2021 the number of references had been more than twice the number of remedies.

In 2022 they were roughly even.

2022 is also, therefore, the year in which Phase 1 remedies came into their own again.