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Gun jumping and pre-closing conduct

Gun jumping includes completing a notifiable transaction or transferring beneficial control before approval. Coordination can also create separate Section

Finin2min summary

Gun jumping includes completing a notifiable transaction or transferring beneficial control before approval. Coordination can also create separate Section 3 risk.

Source review date: 4 July 2026. Read with the official text and the facts of the transaction.

Legal anchors

  • Sections 6 and 43A
  • CCI combination orders

How to analyse it

  1. Define prohibited pre-closing actions.
  2. Use clean teams and aggregated data.
  3. Require independent commercial decisions.
  4. Train deal and integration teams.

Practical illustration

Parties jointly negotiate prices with customers before clearance. This can create both standstill and cartel exposure.

What can go wrong?

  • Joint customer meetings
  • Approval rights beyond value preservation
  • Premature employee integration

Evidence pack

  • Protocol
  • Clean-team logs
  • Decision records
  • Training acknowledgements

Decision workflow

  1. Freeze the facts and effective date.
  2. Identify the controlling Act, rule, notification, circular and jurisdictional overlay.
  3. Prepare a calculation or exposure note.
  4. Collect the evidence pack before filing, payment, signing or response.
  5. Record reviewer conclusion and assumptions.

Quick Q&A

Is the result automatic?

No. Define prohibited pre-closing actions.

What is the most important control?

Train deal and integration teams.

What should be escalated?

Joint customer meetings, especially where money, deadlines, enforcement, personal liability or irreversible transaction steps are involved.

Official source trail

Secondary commentary may help interpretation, but it is not the source of law.

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