FTC restores long-standing prior-approval policy on anticompetitive mergers
BPC Staff Oct 26, 2021 | 8:24 pm
1 min read time
161 wordsGovernment Policy and Law, Retail and BusinessThe Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that it is restoring its long-established practice of routinely restricting future acquisitions for merging parties that pursue anticompetitive mergers. The Prior Approval Policy Statement issued by the commission puts industry on notice that the FTC’s merger enforcement orders will once again require acquisitive firms to obtain prior approval from the agency before closing any future transaction affecting each relevant market for which a violation was alleged, for a minimum of 10 years. In July, the commission rescinded a 1995 policy statement that for decades had fueled consolidation by preventing the agency from imposing these merger restrictions. “The FTC should not have to waste valuable time and resources investigating clearly anticompetitive deals that should have died in the boardroom,” Holly Vedova, director of the Bureau of Competition, said in a release. “Restoring the long-standing prior approval policy forces acquisitive firms to think twice before going on a buying binge because the FTC can simply say no.”