New merger thresholds and notification fees in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, the financial thresholds and filing fees for mandatory merger notification, as well as the advisory opinion application fees have recently been amended.

14 Apr 2022 1 min read Competition Law Alert Article

At a glance

The financial thresholds for mandatory merger notification in Zimbabwe have been increased, reducing the number of transactions that require such notification. However, some argue that the thresholds are still relatively low.
The maximum and minimum merger filing fees in Zimbabwe have also been increased, but they are comparable to fees in other jurisdictions like South Africa.
These amendments are important to consider when evaluating the competition law implications of multi-jurisdictional transactions in Zimbabwe, as failure to notify or implement a notifiable merger can result in penalties of up to 10% of the parties' annual turnover.

In Zimbabwe, the financial thresholds and filing fees for mandatory merger notification, as well as the advisory opinion application fees have recently been amended:

11023_Alert_Competition_14 April 2022

The amendment represents an increase in the thresholds for mandatory merger notification in Zimbabwe. This amendment should curtail the ambit of transactions that will require mandatory merger notification. Although this is an improvement, some may argue that the thresholds remain relatively low.

While there is also an increase in the maximum and minimum merger filing fees in Zimbabwe, the amended amounts are not out of kilter with, for example, the applicable intermediate and large merger filing fees in South Africa.

Considering that the failure to notify / prior implementation of a notifiable merger may (amongst other things) attract a penalty of up to 10% of merger parties’ annual turnover in Zimbabwe, these modifications to Zimbabwe’s merger control regime are key to bear in mind when assessing the competition law implications of multi-jurisdictional transactions.

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