Competition Matters

The newly released Remedy Study is the culmination of nearly two years of effort by FTC staff to look back at Commission merger orders from 2006 through 2012. We looked at 89 merger orders affecting 400 markets, with 79 divestitures to 121 buyers. We evaluated 50 of those orders using a case study method, interviewing nearly 200 businesses in a wide range of industries and collecting sales data from almost that many.

It was another busy year for antitrust news.  Here’s my look back at the top ten FTC-related antitrust developments for the year that was 2016 (in chronological order):

When submitting a Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification filing to the FTC and DOJ, a filing party must complete the HSR Form. The HSR Form requires detailed information about the transaction and the filing party’s business, and requires the submission of certain documents.

More than 40 million U.S. consumers benefit from contact lens competition. Demand for contact lenses has been growing over the past decade, and there are more places for consumers to shop for contact lenses and refill their prescriptions – in-person from eye-care providers, optical chains, and wholesale clubs, and on-line as well. Innovation has improved the comfort and convenience of contact lenses, and many people have switched from one-year lenses to daily disposable lenses.

Looking for a new job can be stressful, whether you are a new worker applying for your first job or a highly trained professional seeking to advance in your career. The last thing a job-seeker should have to worry about is a back-room deal among employers that keeps her from getting the job of her dreams or from being offered a fair salary.

On August 26, 2016, the FTC, with the concurrence of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, took steps to make the process of completing and submitting Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification filings easier. The effective date of the new rules is today, September 1, 2016.

Today the FTC and DOJ released the 38th Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino Report, which details the agencies’ merger review and enforcement program for Fiscal Year 2015 (October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015). This report, like the 37 previous versions, is a snapshot of one year’s worth of HSR filings, Second Requests and merger enforcement actions, including HSR compliance and merger cases filed by the agencies in federal court.

Look at any recent merger settlement accepted by the Commission and the answer is clear: An acceptable merger remedy must eliminate the potential for anticompetitive effects that would likely occur if the merger were to proceed. Typically this means creating another competitor to take the place of one of the merging companies so that customers are not harmed by the merger. In short, a merger remedy must fix the specific competitive problems created by the merger.

Last year, federal agencies, including the FTC, were instructed to adjust the maximum civil penalties for violations of laws they enforce. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 requires agencies to adjust penalty amounts using the “catch-up” inflation adjustment methodology contained in the Act.