European advisers on mergers and acquisitions have welcomed the call for the creation of an international body to co-ordinate on cross-border mergers.

The timely suggestion from Joel Klein, assistant attorney-general at the US Department of Justice, who was speaking at the EC Merger Control Tenth Anniversary conference, comes as WorldCom prepares to appeal against the European Commission's decision to block its acquisition of Sprint. The commission is also expected to block the $20bn deal between EMI Music Publishing and Time Warner's music division of the US.