Today, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission published new draft merger guidelines to help stop anti-competitive mergers. Public Knowledge previously filed comments with the FTC urging special scrutiny for certain types of vertical mergers and mergers by digital platforms. Public Knowledge applauds the new draft merger guidelines and hopes that courts will use them to protect consumers from anti-competitive mergers.
The following can be attributed to Charlotte Slaiman, Competition Policy Director at Public Knowledge:
“These new merger guidelines will be incredibly valuable for courts, antitrust practitioners, business leaders, and advocates. The guidelines lay out clearly the types of mergers that risk substantially lessening competition in violation of the Clayton Act. The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have completed the Herculean task of bringing together the relevant precedents and up to date economics research and distilling it into clear explanations of the law. This is a historic step towards a more competitive economy for everyone.”
You may view testimony by Charlotte Slaiman on vertical mergers today at 2:45 p.m. ET before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.