The average amount of time the antitrust agencies spend reviewing significant mergers has ballooned in recent years. In 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)—the federal agencies charged with evaluating prospective transactions under our nation’s antitrust laws—spent an average of 7.1 months reviewing each merger that went through a Second Request under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (HSR Act). That figure grew to 10.8 months by late 2017.

This significant increase has not been lost on top officials at the DOJ. Speaking at the 2018 Global Antitrust Enforcement Symposium on Sept. 25, 2018, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, head of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, expressed concern over the current state of affairs, citing waste of both public and private resources as the result of lengthy merger review. With the hope of addressing this issue, he unveiled a plan to streamline the DOJ’s merger review process.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]