The combined annual turnover of the parties is used in the field of merger control as a criterion to divide competence between Member States and the Commission. Concentrations where the parties’ combined turnover exceeds the thresholds set in Article 1 of the merger regulation are considered to be of ‘Community dimension’ and will be assessed by the Commission.
Source: Glossary of terms used in EU competition policy, Antitrust and control of concentrations, European Commission, 2002