Act against undesired control in the telecom sector in the Netherlands: new notification requirement and power to block transactions
Written By
Associate
Netherlands
As an associate in our office in The Hague, I specialise in regulatory matters, including data protection and telecommunications law.
Of Counsel
Netherlands
I am a Principal Regulatory Counsel in our Regulatory & Public Affairs practice in the Netherlands and Brussels. I have a focus on tech and comms and digital markets regulation, drawing on in-depth business knowledge and extensive experience in TMT and public administration.
This article was originally published on Kluwer Competition Law Blog. Please click here for the original article.
On 19 May 2020, the Act against undesired control in the telecom sector (“Act“) was adopted by the Dutch Parliament. The Act introduces a notification requirement applicable to anyone who has the intention to acquire ‘a controlling interest’ in a ‘telecom party’ if such interest results in ‘relevant influence’ in the telecom sector. If the controlling interest may result in a ‘threat to the public interest’, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (“Minister”) shall prohibit the acquiring or holding of such controlling interest or impose a ban subject to suspensive conditions.
The purpose of the Act is to prevent the acquisition of controlling interests in telecom parties if this may threaten the public interest in the Dutch telecommunications sector. While the Act was prompted by the attempt to takeover KPN by América Móvil in 2013, the Act has wider implications as it affects not only KPN but also other parties. The Act is of relevance to anyone wishing to acquire control in a Dutch telecom provider, hosting service, Internet node, trust service or data centre.
In this article, a bird’s-eye view of the Act and the potential overlap with merger notification procedures under competition law is provided.
The Act stipulates that a party that has the intention to acquire ‘a controlling interest’ in a ‘telecom party’ must notify this to the Minister if that control leads to ‘relevant influence’ in the telecommunications sector. The notification must be submitted to the Minister not later than eight weeks before the envisaged execution of this intention. If the intention regards a public offer with respect to a listed telecom party, the notification must be made not later than at the time of announcement of the public offer. The Minister shall then decide within eight weeks whether the transaction will be prohibited although this period can be extended if further investigation is required.
Important definitions
Telecom party
The definition ‘telecom party’ also includes parties other than providers of telecommunications networks and services. It can apply to a branch office or a legal entity, sole proprietorship (eenmanszaak) or a company established in the Netherlands that is a provider or holder of a controlling interest in a supplier of an electronic communications network or service, a hosting service, an Internet node, a trust service or a data centre. Data centres which are solely or primarily for personal use are not covered by the Act. Furthermore, an additional category of networks or services may be designated as a telecom party subject to the Act by a Governmental order (Algemene Maatregel van Bestuur). To date, no such Governmental order was published.
A transaction can only be blocked if there is an imminent ‘threat to the public interest’. A threat to the public interest can only exist if the controlling interest leads to ‘relevant influence’ in the telecommunications sector.[3] This includes abuse or deliberate outage of the telecom network which could lead to an unlawful breach of the confidentiality of communication, or an interruption of an Internet access service or telephone service. Another example is the interruption of the availability or reliability of a hosting service, Internet node, trust service or a data centre. A prohibition may also be imposed if the Minister believes that there is a threat to national security, defence, the enforcement of the legal order or (emergency) assistance.
The rules apply only if the thresholds to be determined by Governmental order are exceeded and/or it concerns products and services specified therein. A draft Governmental order (“draft”) laying down the thresholds has been consulted in February 2020. It follows from the draft that in case of an Internet access service or telephone service, for example, relevant influence only exists if the service is offered by the relevant telecom party to more than 100,000 end users. In the case of a hosting service, Internet node, trust service or a data centre, the draft includes technical criteria that are to be used to determine whether the Act applies. Those criteria basically boil down to including only those parties with a market share of more than 6%. Data centre services, for example, are only included if they offer a minimum power capacity of 40 MW. A combination of services can also lead to the thresholds being exceeded; even if the thresholds for each service separately are not met.
The draft Governmental order has yet to be finalized and needs to be submitted to Parliament first.
A threat to the public interest
As set out above, a transaction can only be blocked if there is a threat to the public interest. This means that the envisaged transaction must lead to relevant influence, as set out above. Furthermore, one of the following conditions must be met:
(a) the transferee or holder is an unwanted person or a State, entity or person of which is known or for which there are grounds to suspect that it has an intention to cause abuse or deliberate outage to the network;
(b) the transferee or holder has close ties with or is under the influence of a State, entity or person as referred to under (a), or a person in respect of whom there are grounds to suspect such links or influence;
(c) the transferee or holder has a record such that it significantly increases the risk that the consequences referred to in under (a) to (d) of the definition of relevant interest will occur;
(d) the identity of the actual holder or transferee cannot be established; or
(e) the transferee or holder does not cooperate, or cooperates insufficiently, in the investigation of the conditions under (a) through (d).
Please note that even if there are no indications that one of these conditions apply, a notification requirement can still exist. Wether there is ‘a threat to the public interest’ is only relevant for determining whether the transaction can be blocked. It is irrelevant for determining whether a notification requirement exists. After all, a notification requirement already exists if it concerns the acquisition of ‘a controlling interest’ in a ‘telecom party’ which leads to ‘relevant influence’.[4]
Procedural aspects
In addition, the Act introduces its own procedure, with its own formalities and deadlines. Under the Dutch Competition Act, the notification phase lasts four weeks and the licensing phase thirteen weeks. Under the Act the Minister has a period of eight weeks to decide whether to impose a ban in response to a notification.
Moreover, under the Dutch Competition Act a standstill obligation exists during the assessment period. Such a standstill obligation has not been included in the Act. Acquisition of controlling interests is permitted without prior approval. However, if the parties proceed with the intended transaction before the Minister has decided on the notification, they will run the risk that the transaction must be rescinded. Practice will have to show how this possibility interferes with mergers in the meantime approved under the Dutch Competition Act, particularly in view of legal certainty. According to the Minister, subjecting the holding or acquisition of a controlling interest in a telecommunications party to an ex ante or ex post-test pursuant to the Act is in any event compatible with the EC Merger Regulation.
The Minister has indicated that he will monitor merger notifications made to the Dutch Competition Authority pursuant to Article 34 of the Competition Act as well as notifications made to the Dutch Financial Markets Authority in order to spot any transactions which need also to be notified under the Act.
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This blog is based on the Dutch article written by Feyo Sickinghe and Mariska van de Sanden available here and drafted with the help of Manuela Cox, Bird & Bird (Netherlands) LLP.
[1] Article 14a.2 paragraph 1 Act. In the takeover attempt of KPN by América Móvil, Stichting Preferente Aandelen B (an anti-takeover foundation) of KPN made use of a call option. This gave the foundation 49.9% of the voting rights in shareholders’ meetings and successfully prevented América Móvil from obtaining more than 50% of the voting rights. Such measures are usually taken on a temporary basis.
[2] Other examples of controlling interest include having a branch office, being a telecom party, or becoming fully liable as a partner towards creditors for the debts of the company acting under its own name, or being the owner of a one-man business (eenmanszaak). See also Article 14a.3 Act.
[3] In addition, several requirements are posed as to the (background of the) acquirer or holder that must be met, before there could be a threat to the public interest. See article 14a.4 paragraph 2 of the Act for these requirements.
[4] In practice, however, the Minister may take other, additional circumstances into account. For example, if the other shareholder holds 70% of the votes, as a result of which the acquiring party with 30% of the votes does not in fact have a “controlling interest”. In such a case, the Minister may be less likely to conclude that there is a threat to the public interest justifying a ban.
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