South Africa’s Competition Commission has announced draft amendments to its Small Merger Notification Guidelines, targeting early-stage acquisitions in digital and technology sectors to address regulatory gaps and align with international developments.
South Africa’s Competition Commission has opened consultation on draft amendments to its 2022 Small Merger Notification Guidelines, with the proposed changes aimed squarely at acquisitions in digital and technology markets. The Commission gazetted the notice on 14 August 2026 and is inviting written submissions until 13 September 2026, according to the published draft.
The move is designed to close a regulatory gap that can arise when start-ups or other early-stage targets are bought before they have built enough turnover or assets to meet the statutory merger thresholds. In those cases, the Commission says potentially anti-competitive transactions may escape review even though the target may already have strategic value, key data, or other assets that matter to competition.
Under the proposed approach, parties to small mergers in digital or technology-driven sectors would have to file written pre-merger notifications where early-stage valuation or strategic assets could affect the competitive landscape. The practical effect would be to pull some transactions into the Commission’s clearance process sooner, which would matter for venture capital deals, M&A advisers, corporate buyers and legal teams structuring transactions.
The South African review comes against a wider international shift in merger control. The European Commission published its own draft merger guidelines on 30 April 2026, also citing the need to update old rules for digitalisation and other market changes. That consultation, which runs until 26 June 2026, is intended to replace separate horizontal and non-horizontal guidance with a single framework, with the final text expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. European officials have said the revision reflects wider concerns about innovation, resilience, supply chains and strategic investment, while keeping competition enforcement central.
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