Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS NEWS: Senators plan bill to “harmonize” FTC, Justice Department merger review standards, (Mar 16, 2015)

By John Curran, TRDaily

Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have announced plans to introduce legislation aimed at “harmonizing” the rules governing how the FTC and the Department of Justice review mergers and acquisitions, and specifically “to require the FTC and DOJ to satisfy the same standard to obtain a preliminary injunction to block a merger” and “eliminate existing disparities between the procedures the two agencies use in merger litigation.”

A bill with similar aims—the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules (SMARTER) Act (HR 5402)—was introduced by Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex) last year and cleared the House Judiciary Committee, and Sens. Hatch and Lee said that they looked forward to talking with the FTC and House members about the matter.

“The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission share concurrent jurisdiction to review proposed mergers for compliance with our nation’s antitrust laws, and yet the two agencies can use different procedures in applying the same laws,” said Sen. Lee in a statement. “Senator Hatch and I favor sensible, responsible reform measures that equalize the standards and procedures governing how the FTC and DOJ litigate merger cases. There’s no reason that companies need to confront two different sets of rules when preparing to undergo a merger review process with the federal government.”

“There is no good reason for the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to apply different standards in enforcing our nation’s antitrust laws. Businesses seeking to merge deserve consistent treatment without regard to which agency decides to review the merger,” said Sen. Hatch in a statement. “I look forward to working with Senator Lee and with my other colleagues on much-needed reforms to improve the merger review process.”

Separately, House members including Rep. Farenthold and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, applauded an action by the FTC on March 13 that they said is one of the aims of the SMARTER Act—which would limit the FTC’s ability to initiate administrative litigation against a proposed merger following denial of an FTC injunction request against the merger in federal court. However, they said that passage of the SMARTER Act remains necessary because the FTC’s action is not permanent and can be waived.

News: AcquisitionsMergers Antitrust FederalTradeCommissionNews