The European Commission confirmed on 8 June 2011 that the notification of the proposed acquisition by SC Johnson & Son Inc. of Sara Lee Corporation’s household insect control business had been withdrawn on 9 May 2011. Interestingly, the proposed transaction was not initially notified to the European Commission because it did not meet the “Community dimension” turnover threshold test. It was however subject to national filing requirements in a number of Member States. However, the national authorities in Spain, Belgium, Greece, France, Czech Republic and Italy asked the Commission to take jurisdiction under Article 22 of the EC Merger Regulation. Article 22 provides that Member States may request that the Commission examines a concentration without an EU dimension where it affects trade between member states and may affect cross-border competition. During the Commission’s first phase investigation, it found that both parties had a strong presence in the household insect market and competed closely with each other in each of the member states which had made the referral. The Commission considered that the initial remedies proposed by SC Johnson were unlikely to remove these concerns and therefore it had opened a Phase II investigation in December 2010. The Commission was due to reach a finding by 12 May 2011 but the parties choose to withdrawn their notification having failed to reach a satisfactory solution over remedies to meet competition concerns. In the meantime, the parties intend to pursue the transaction outside the EU (in markets such as Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya and Russia) and Sara Lee still intends to divest its EU insecticide business.