FTC, DoJ to Consider Horizontal Merger Guidelines

The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that they will solicit public comment and hold joint public workshops to explore the possibility of updating the Horizontal Merger Guidelines that are used by both agencies to evaluate the potential competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions. The goal of the workshops will be to determine whether the Horizontal Merger Guidelines accurately reflect the current practice of merger review at the FTC and DOJ, as well as to take into account legal and economic developments that have occurred since the last significant Guidelines revision in 1992. The Horizontal Merger Guidelines outline the merger enforcement policy of the FTC and DOJ. The Guidelines describe the analytical framework and specific standards normally used by the agencies in analyzing mergers. The Guidelines are intended to reduce the uncertainty associated with enforcement of the antitrust laws in the merger area. The agencies will issue a set of questions about the current Guidelines and possible revisions. Following receipt of public comments and original research addressing those questions or other issues related to the Guidelines, the agencies will host a series of five workshops. The workshops, which are open to the public and press, will take place in December 2009 and January 2010. The first workshop will be held in Washington, DC, on December 3, 2009, followed by workshops in Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco. A final workshop also will be held in Washington, DC.