On 12 November 2025, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) indicated that it would start to investigate the acquisition of the Pukkelpop music festival by Live Nation (see, attachment). The BCA opened its inquiry after it had received express instructions to that effect by the Minister for Economic Affairs (the Minister) pursuant to Article IV.39, section 1, 3° of the Code of Economic Law. While this is a rare move, it does not come as a surprise. On 9 October 2025, the Minister had already declared in a plenary session of the federal Chamber of Representatives that he would “personally involve the BCA in this file” (CRIV 56 PLEN 066, at p.11). The transaction prompted concerns because of the multiple roles which Live Nation is assuming in Belgium, replicating its worldwide activities as the organiser of large-scale music events, artist management company, provider of artist booking services, manager of large concert venues, and operator of ticket sales.
As the transaction was not notifiable under Belgian or European merger control rules because it did not meet the requisite financial thresholds, the BCA will apply Articles 101 and/or 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and its Belgian counterparts. The BCA has shown itself to be an eager proponent of these enforcement tools which are deployed after the transactions take place and tend to throw them into disarray. Relying on a judgment which the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered on 16 March 2023 in Towercast, the BCA scuppered the acquisition of EDPnet by Proximus in 2023 (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 12 April 2024) and, earlier this year, the proposed acquisition of the artisan bakery segment of Ceres by Dossche Mills Group (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 23 January 2025 and 24 March 2025).

If, as is expected, the aggressive reliance on Articles 101 and 102 of the TFEU will be complemented by new statutory powers for the BCA to “call in” mergers not caught by the merger control rules (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 25 October 2024), concluding a below-merger threshold transaction will prove hazardous and require an early dialogue with the BCA as a precautionary matter. However, the BCA is not alone in having ambitious designs for its merger control powers. It shares that aspiration with competition authorities around Europe. Just last week, the French competition authority (FCA) imposed a fine on telemedicine firm Doctolib on account of a non-notifiable acquisition of a competitor (see, Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences News & Insights of 6 November 2025). Following this decision, Benoît Coeuré, the head of the FCA, expressed the hope to the PaRR news service to secure “call in” powers from the French Parliament in 2026.