FTC/DOJ Announce Three Public Workshops to Discuss the Draft Merger Guidelines

Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice announced that they will be co-hosting three workshops to facilitate public dialogue on the recently issued draft Merger Guidelines.

The first of these workshops will take place this coming Tuesday, Sept. 5, from 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. It will be live-streamed on the FTC’s website. Additional information, including a tentative agenda, for the workshop can be found on the FTC’s event page and is summarized below. Information about forthcoming workshops will be announced at a later date.

This first workshop will feature two panel discussions with academics, economists, practitioners and former enforcers regarding questions and issues on which public comment will be most useful.

The workshops are aimed at promoting a “dynamic discussion” about the draft guidelines to complement the comments currently being submitted to the agencies by the public. Those comments may be submitted online through Sept. 18, 2023

Summary Agenda

• Welcome and Introduction
• Panel 1:  Evolving Approaches to Raising Rivals’ Costs and Vertical Mergers from the 2020 Vertical Merger Guidelines to the Draft Merger Guidelines
• Panel 2: Evolving Approaches to Mergers Between Rivals from the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines to the Draft Merger Guidelines