Merger Guidance From FTC/DOJ Still Lacking, Says Workshop Panel

Thirteen new draft antitrust guidelines focused on mergers and acquisitions from the FTC and the Department of Justice (DOJ) go into a lot of detail about what constitutes anticompetitive practices but they don’t do enough to tell companies what is acceptable when they’re planning a merger or acquisition.

That’s according to Barry Nigro, a veteran in antitrust issues, one of several experts on a panel during an FTC/DOJ workshop on Tuesday who detailed what’s still lacking in the two agencies’ revamping of antitrust guidelines, first announced in July (FDAnews, July 19).

The goal of the new guidelines — which constitute 51 pages — is to deal with the realities of the modern economy, sharpening existing tools and methods the agencies already use as well as adding new ones, said Aviv Nevo, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.

The FTC and DOJ will hold two more workshops before the public comment period on the draft guidelines ends Sept. 18.

Read the draft guidelines here.

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