FTC and Department of Justice Issue Merger Challenges Data, Announce Upcoming Merger Enforcement Workshop

The Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) today issued a report summarizing merger challenges data for the two agencies for fiscal years 1999-2003, and announced that they will hold a joint workshop on merger enforcement in Washington, DC, on February 17-19, 2004.

The merger challenges data focuses on the agencies' merger enforcement decisions during the past five years, and contains tabulated market share and concentration levels associated with the FTC's and DOJ's decisions to challenge mergers in a wide range of product markets. The data tabulations use the two market share concentration statistics described in the agencies' Horizontal Merger Guidelines - the post-merger Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the change in the HHI - and reflect 173 mergers and 1,263 markets in total.

The agencies' announcement of the merger enforcement workshop presents the timing of the workshop, solicits comments from interested parties, and contains information on the specific topics to be addressed. The workshop will allow the Commission and DOJ to receive input on topics that arise in horizontal merger investigations including: Application of the Hypothetical Monopolist Test; Concentration and Market Shares; Firms that Participate Through a Supply Response: Uncommitted Entry; Coordinated Interaction; Unilateral Effects; Dynamic Competitive Analysis; Creation of Market Power on the Buying Side of the Market; Efficiencies; Non-Price Competition; and Integrated Analysis of Mergers.

Copies of the announcement of a workshop on merger enforcement, as well as the summary of merger challenges data for fiscal years 1999-2003, can be found on the Commission's Web site http://www.ftc.gov.