Water Mergers (Modification of Enactments) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 3202 of 2004).

These Regulations concern mergers between water or sewerage undertakers ("water mergers") in England and Wales. The Regulations expressly disapply certain provisions of Part 3 of the Part 3 of the Enterprise Act 2002 for the purposes of assessing water mergers under the Water Industry Act 1991. Paragraph 1 of Schedule 4ZA provides that Part 3 of the 2002 Act and related provisions in that Act shall apply to water mergers with certain modifications, which must in particular give effect to paragraphs 3 to 6 of that Schedule. These Regulations give effect to those provisions with relevant modifications. The central modifications are made by regulation 11, which sets out the questions the Competition Commission must decide in relation to completed and anticipated mergers. They must decide whether the merger may be expected to prejudice the ability of the Director General of Water Services or, in future, the Water Services Regulation Authority (the Authority), in carrying out its functions by virtue of the 1991 Act, to make comparisons between different water enterprises. In that event, in deciding what remedial action should be taken, the Commission may have regard to any relevant customer benefits in relation to the merger, provided that a consideration of those benefits would not prevent a solution to the prejudice concerned, and those benefits are substantially more important than the prejudice concerned. Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (the EC Merger Regulation) may also apply to water mergers that are the subject of these Regulations and which fall within the exclusive competence of the European Commission by virtue of its provisions.