US: House Committee votes to narrow FTC merger enforcement

On the 5th of April, the House Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would curtail the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to challenge mergers.

The legislation would provide greater certainty to the merger review process by harmonizing conflicting approaches at the FTC and the Department of Justice. Critics argue that it would unnecessarily weaken the FTC by taking away a useful enforcement tool.

The House is slated to recess April 7 and return for a spring break on April 25. “We hope that it’ll reach the floor during the next work period,” a spokeswoman for bill sponsor Blake Farenthold told Bloomberg.

Under the Republican bill, H.R. 659, the FTC would no longer be able to subject proposed mergers to administrative litigation. Currently, in addition to going to court to challenge a merger, the FTC may use an internal process through which cases are heard and decided by an administrative law judge.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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