A new international organisation has been tasked with streamlining international procedures on cross-border mergers, at a time when corporations have found themselves struggling to meet the requirements of multiple filings with different competition authorities.

The International Competition Network (ICN), inaugurated in New York on Thursday, is a representative body composed of senior representatives from the world's two largest antitrust authorities, the US Department of Justice and the European Commission, in addition to the Canadian and Mexican antitrust authorities.