Australia's Merger Control Regime Continues to Evolve – September 2026 Update

Nine months into Australia’s mandatory merger control regime, both the Federal Government and the ACCC have moved quickly to refine the framework in response to practical anomalies emerging from its implementation.

The ACCC is clearing most transactions quickly and its waiver mechanism is doing substantial work, with only a small minority of matters requiring Phase 2 scrutiny. But the more interesting question is where the merger framework is creating cost and uncertainty.

The ACCC’s Acquisitions Register provides some useful insights:

• Between 1 January and 30 June 2026, the ACCC received 145 formal notifications and 286 notification waiver applications. Waivers therefore represented almost two-thirds of the 431 matters received during the mandatory period and outnumbered formal notifications by almost two to one.
• Of the waiver applications determined during those six months, the ACCC’s published dataset recorded a grant rate of approximately 94% across 248 determinations.
• In terms of speed, the ACCC also performed strongly, reporting that 92% of formal notification and waiver determinations were completed within 20 business days, with a median decision time of 11 business days for waivers.

This is strong evidence that the waiver mechanism is functioning as intended, with a substantial volume of acquisitions being triaged and resolved quickly without a full Phase 1 notification. The regime also appears to have achieved its objective of increasing transaction visibility, but this creates something of a waiver paradox. If almost two-thirds of matters entering the system seek relief from the very notification requirement the regime creates, the volume of waivers may also be indicative of the breadth of the underlying thresholds.

Early market feedback suggests that some notifications are being triggered by relatively low thresholds and look-back rules, even where there are no obvious competition concerns. This potentially creates additional cost and delay for acquirers while the ACCC builds a more comprehensive picture of acquisition activity. The key question over the next few years will be whether this broader scrutiny of acquisition activity leads to the identification of materially more anti-competitive mergers.

Legislative amendments and evolving guidance also demonstrate a clear effort to balance effective competition enforcement with commercial practicality. Most recently, we have seen targeted amendments to the merger regime introduced by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Act 2026, which took effect on 16 September 2026.

If you are planning an acquisition or investment, reach out to our Corporate & M&A team at Sparke Helmore who can assist you in navigating the evolving merger regime.