Article 22

The laws of the Member States may lay down nullity rules for mergers in accordance with the following conditions only: nullity must be ordered in a court judgment; mergers which have taken effect pursuant to Article 17 may be declared void only if there has been no judicial or administrative preventive supervision of their legality, or if they have not been drawn up and certified in due legal form, or if it is shown that the decision of the general meeting is void or voidable under national law; nullification proceedings may not be initiated more than 6 months after the date on which the merger becomes effective as against the person alleging nullity or if the situation has been rectified; where it is possible to remedy a defect liable to render a merger void, the competent court shall grant the companies involved a period of time within which to rectify the situation; a judgment declaring a merger void shall be published in the manner prescribed by the laws of each Member State in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 2009/101/EC; where the laws of a Member State permit a third party to challenge such a judgment, that party may do so only within 6 months of publication of the judgment in the manner prescribed by Directive 2009/101/EC; a judgment declaring a merger void shall not of itself affect the validity of obligations owed by or in relation to the acquiring company which arose before the judgment was published and after the date on which the merger takes effect; companies which have been parties to a merger shall be jointly and severally liable in respect of the obligations of the acquiring company referred to in point (g). By way of derogation from point (a) of paragraph 1, the laws of a Member State may also provide for the nullity of a merger to be ordered by an administrative authority if an appeal against such a decision lies to a court. Point (b) and points (d) to (h) of paragraph 1 shall apply by analogy to the administrative authority. Such nullification proceedings may not be initiated more than 6 months after the date on which the merger takes effect. The laws of the Member States on the nullity of a merger pronounced following any supervision other than judicial or administrative preventive supervision of legality shall not be affected.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-10-12 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.