Thomson’s (NYSE: TOC) takeover of Reuters (NSDQ: RTRSY) will no be undergoing a deeper regulatory look by the European Commission, the companies announced in a joint statement. EC will proceed to a “Phase 2 review” of the deal to “examine the transaction and its impact on the competitive environment”.The companies currently anticipate that the Phase 2 review will be completed during Q1 of next year, they said. In the U.S., the two companies expect that the Department of Justice will provide a decision by January 15, 2008. The planned $18.1 billion merger would create the world’s biggest business media company. More details in release.

AP:  The EU’s executive arm said that its initial investigation saw problems with the combination because both companies supply data feeds to traders, control news services and have access to broker research reports as well as financial information databases that they sell to their customers…the merger would cut the number of major companies selling info and trading systems to the financial services industry from three—Reuters, Thomson and privately owned Bloomberg—to just two, the argument goes.

EC’s own statement is here.

Reuters COO (and proposed CEO of Reuters unit under Thomson-Reuters) Devin Wenig will be a keynote speaker at our “Future of Business Media” conference on Oct 30th in NYC. Also speaking will be Chris Ahearn, president of Reuters Media.