Announced Action for August 9, 2005

Publication of Federal Register notice: The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice concerning proposed amendments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Rules, 16 C.F.R. Part 803. As detailed in the notice, which will be published shortly and can be found on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release, the proposed amendments would allow parties filing pre-merger documents under the HSR Act to provide Internet links to certain documents in lieu of paper copies for items 4(a) and 4(b) on the notification and report form. The proposed rulemaking also addresses “stale filing” situations, in which parties make premerger filings but then fail to comply with a Request for Additional Information and Documentary Material – commonly known as a second request.

The proposed rulemaking has been drafted jointly with staff of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and reflects their views as well as those of the staff of the FTC’s Premerger Notification Office. Public comments on the proposed changes are being accepted for 60 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register. The Commission vote approving publication of the Federal Register notice was 4-0. (FTC File No. P989316; the staff contact is Michael Verne, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-3167.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.