Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS—FTC and DOJ require federal agencies to identify ‘anticompetitive regulations’, (May 6, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

According to the agencies, such regulations “lead to higher prices, lower quality goods and services, less innovation, and fewer opportunities to earn a living.”

This week, FTC and DOJ are issuing a joint letter to agency heads directing them to make a list of so-called anticompetitive regulations that “reduce competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation.” The demand is a follow-up to the Request for Information issued by FTC in mid-April and President Trump’s Executive Order on “Reducing Anticompetitive Regulatory Barriers.”

According to the letter provided as an example, agency heads are being asked to review all regulations under their rulemaking authority and identify regulations that fall into specific categories outlined in Section 3(a) of the Executive Order. These categories include regulations that create monopolies or create unnecessary barriers to entry for new market participants, limit competition, impose restrictive licensure requirements, limit companies' ability to compete for agency procurements, or otherwise distort the free market.

“Anticompetitive federal regulations harm ordinary Americans in many ways,” the letter states. “They lead to higher prices, lower quality goods and services, less innovation, and fewer opportunities to earn a living.”

Impacts in particular areas. Some areas in which the letter writers believe such regulations can be found include healthcare, energy, technology, food and agriculture, transportation, and government procurement. For example, the letter contends that “[e]liminating unnecessary anticompetitive regulations can help farmers, growers, and ranchers produce food that unlocks lower prices for American consumers.”

Agency heads are asked to identify anticompetitive regulations; provide recommendations about how they should be rescinded or modified; and designate a senior political official to lead the identification effort and to act as a point of contact. The list of anticompetitive regulations should be submitted to the FTC and DOJ by June 18, 2025.

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