(Bloomberg) -- Deals seeking a sign-off from the European Union are facing unprecedented delays amid the Covid-19 pandemic as regulators hit the pause button for most of their longer investigations.

Five out of the European Commission’s six in-depth merger probes currently have deadlines suspended, a way for officials and companies to buy time in reviews such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s plan to merge with Peugeot, London Stock Exchange Group Plc’s takeover of Refinitiv and Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s purchase of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.

“In the current climate the parties and the authorities are sometimes struggling to meet deadlines,” said Paul McGeown, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC in Brussels. “There is only so much that can be done by videoconference, however good the technology.”

The EU cites a procedure to “stop the clock” on deadlines “if the parties fail to provide, in a timely fashion, an important piece of information that the commission has requested from them,” it said in an emailed statement. Officials usually set a new date when companies have supplied the missing information.

This year is different as many regulators and company executives work from home after the Covid-19 pandemic shut many offices. The EU pleaded in March for companies to delay merger filings, warning staff would struggle to collect and handle the complex information that typify many of its merger reviews.

“Regulators have more and more data to analyze from the companies and internal documents are becoming more important for the analysis,” said Aitor Ortiz, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

“This may cause a bottleneck from both sides in the 90 days review. Regulators need to look at more documents with the same staff and companies also need more time to collect and review the documents that they will submit to the regulators or answer the questionnaires,” he said.

Uncertainty in some industries hit hard by Covid-19 may be a factor, such as airlines where Air Canada’s bid for tour operator Transat A.T. Inc. has had its review suspended since early June, and a cruise ship deal, Fincantieri SpA’s takeover of Chantiers de l’Atlantique, where the review was halted in March.

A potential delay might be less welcome for LSE’s $27 billion purchase of Refinitiv. An EU decision delivered before the end of 2020 would prevent the risk of a second review by the U.K. after EU law ceases to apply to Britain post-Brexit.

The clock was stopped last week and a restart within the next two months should still allow a decision come before the end of December.

Holiday periods also add to the pressure to delay reviews, as tight deadlines for companies to supply large amounts of information -- and for regulators to analyze it -- become harder to meet.

EssilorLuxottica SA’s bid for eyewear retailer GrandVision NV is the one tie-up where the EU still has the clock running in an in-depth probe -- with a tight Aug. 27 deadline to deliver a decision.

The companies haven’t yet filed any concessions to the EU that might allay antitrust concerns and EssilorLuxottica is separately suing the target for information on sales during the coronavirus crisis.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.