TOURISM LAW AND COMPETITION – A PORTUGUESE PERSPECTIVE 435 D. COMPETITION ADVOCACY AND ENFORCEMENT PRIOR TO COVID-19 D.1. Merger control Article 37(1) of the Competition Act44 provides for mandatory prior notification of concentrations to the CA when one of the three alternative criteria is triggered (turnover, market share and a mixed one). The existence of the market share threshold is broadly explained by the specificities of the Portuguese economy and the aims of merger control 45. In effect, under the Competition Act concentrations are subject to notification to the CA when any of the following conditions is fulfilled: a) the implementation of the concentration results in the acquisition, creation or reinforcement of a market share equal to or exceeding 50% in the national market for a particular good or service, or in a substantial part of it; b) the implementation of the concentration results in the acquisition, creation or reinforcement of a market share between 30% and 50% of the national market of a particular good or service if at least two of the participating undertakings have achieved individually, in Portugal, a turnover of at least 5 million euros in the previous financial year; c) in the preceding financial year, the aggregate combined turnover of undertakings part of the concentration in Portugal exceeded 100 million euros, after the deduction of taxes directly related to turnover, provided that the individual turnover achieved in Portugal in the same period by at least two of these undertakings exceeded 5 million euros. In recent years, the hospitality sector has received growing interest, notably by private equity firms and funds. Several concentrations have been subjected to merger control proceedings by the CA, due to triggering the turnover threshold 44 See above note 33. 45 See for instance the annotations to article 37 in “Lei da Concorrência Anotada”, coordinated by Carlos Botelho Moniz, Collection Morais Leitão, Almedina edition, 2016, ISBN:9789724059907 and in “Lei da Concorrência – Comentário Conimbricense”, coordinated by Manuel Lopes Porto and others, 2017, Almedina edition, ISBN:9789724071923. Concerning the former Competition Act, which had the same two criteria but with some differences in the thresholds, see for instance “O procedimento de controlo das operações de concentração de empresas em Portugal”: a prática decisória da Autoridade da Concorrência, à luz da Lei n.º 18/2003, de 11 de Junho, from Margarida Rosado da Fonseca and Luís do Nascimento Ferreira, 2009, Almedina edition, ISBN 978972403781-3.
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