Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: FTC Announces Annual Revisions to HSR Reporting, Interlock Thresholds , (Jan 10, 2013)

By E. Darius Sturmer, J.D.

The FTC announced today that it has revised the thresholds that determine whether companies are required to notify federal antitrust authorities about a transaction under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act. The Commission also announced revisions to the thresholds that trigger a prohibition preventing companies from having interlocking memberships on their corporate boards of directors. The agency is required to adjust the thresholds, which reside within Sections 7A and 8 of the Clayton Act respectively, each year to keep pace with the change in the level of the gross domestic product.

For 2013, the threshold for reporting proposed mergers and acquisitions subject to enforcement under Section 7A has increased from $68.2 million to $70.9 million. The Sec. 7A revisions will take effect 30 days after their publication in the Federal Register. As they are scheduled to appear tomorrow, they would thus become effective on February 10, 2013.

The new thresholds for the Act’s prohibition on interlocking directorates are $28,883,000 for Section 8(a)(1) and $2,888,300 for Section 8(a)(2)(A). These figures, which become effective immediately upon publication of notice in the Federal Register, signify respective increases of $1,099,000 and $109,900 from last year’s thresholds.

News: Antitrust FederalTradeCommissionNews