2.1: Mergers & Practices
Take action against anticompetitive mergers and practices that may cause significant consumer injury. Other Information:
The FTC takes action to block or remedy anticompetitive mergers and to stop anticompetitive conduct. This antitrust enforcement
provides substantial benefits to consumers by preventing anticompetitive mergers and other coordinated or unilateral conduct
that are likely to lessen competition and innovation and cause consumers to pay higher prices or obtain lower quality goods
and services than they otherwise would. The FTC investigates proposed and consummated mergers, as well as anticompetitive
conduct and agreements, and takes action when it has reason to believe that mergers or conduct will likely harm consumers.
The FTC's enforcement actions result in litigation, consent orders, and abandoned or restructured transactions or agreements.
The FTC strives to maintain strong litigation capabilities and works to ensure that the remedies imposed by its consent orders
are effective in maintaining competition in the marketplace. The Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Premerger Notification Act provides
the FTC an effective starting point for identifying anticompetitive mergers and taking action to block or remedy these mergers
before they are consummated. The FTC administers the HSR program both for itself and for the Department of Justice's (DOJ)
Antitrust Division, which shares authority to challenge anticompetitive mergers. The FTC also uses trade press articles, consumer
and competitor complaints, and other means to identify potentially anticompetitive mergers that were not required to be reported
under HSR, or that were not reported in violation of HSR. On the nonmerger side, there is no comparable statutorily mandated
program to help identify anticompetitive business practices. The FTC must instead employ a variety of methods to identify
potentially anticompetitive practices (for example, consumer and competitor complaints, referrals from other government agencies,
and monitoring the trade press). Performance Measures: - Actions to maintain competition, including litigated victories, consent
orders, abandoned transaction remedies, restructured transaction remedies, or fix-it-first transaction remedies in a significant
percentage of substantial merger and nonmerger investigations. - "Actions" include consents, abandoned transactions, and final
litigated victories. Not included in "actions" would be filed Preliminary Injunctions or Permanent Injunctions, administrative
litigations still pending, transactions abandoned before the investigation is reached or the second request/compulsory process
stage, or nonmerger consents where staff logged less than 150 hours. - "Significant percentage" refers to the 40%-60% target
(which is shown on the Performance Measure table that begins on page 40.) - "Substantial investigation" includes, for merger
investigations, second request and compulsory process investigation. For nonmerger investigations, this refers to investigations
where staff logged more than 150 hours. - Consumer savings of at least $500 million through merger actions to maintain competition.
* Actions against mergers likely to harm competition in markets with a total of at least $25 billion in sales. * Consumer
savings of at least six times the amount of FTC resources allocated to merger program. * Consumer savings of at least $80
million through nonmerger actions taken to maintain competition. * Actions against anticompetitive conduct in markets with
a total of at least $8 billion in annual sales. * Consumer savings of at least four times the amount of FTC resources allocated
to nonmerger program. - The percentage of cases in which the FTC had at least one substantive contact with a foreign antitrust
authority in which the agencies followed consistent analytical approaches and reached compatible outcomes. These measures
evaluate agency performance in several ways: the percentage of substantial investigations that have positive results (i.e.,
litigated victories, consent orders, or abandoned, fix-it-first, or restructured transactions), the volume of commerce affected
(benefitted) by merger and nonmerger actions to maintain competition, the estimated dollar savings to consumers resulting
from merger and nonmerger actions, and the estimated dollar savings to consumers per dollar of enforcement resources. In the
absence of casespecific information, the dollar savings to consumers is conservatively estimated as one percent of the volume
of commerce in the affected markets (for two years in merger cases and for one year in nonmerger cases). It is not intended
as a precise estimate of consumer savings, but, rather, as an indication of general magnitude. A more precise estimate based
on case-specific information will be used whenever possible. The use of a volume of sales performance measure does not mean
that the FTC will only investigate and take enforcement action in markets with large sales volumes. The FTC will continue
to investigate and take enforcement action as necessary in all markets where considerable consumer harm is likely. The benchmarks
for the estimated dollar savings to consumers per dollar of enforcement resources for merger and nonmerger actions are based
on historical experience, reflecting the different mix of cases and the different investigative and enforcement processes.
These measures will help guide the agency in challenging conduct that causes substantial consumer injury through targeting
of its resources effectively and efficiently. These measures evaluate appropriate investigation, case selection, and resolution,
whether through litigation or settlement, as well as the crafting of sufficient and effective remedies.
Indicator(s):
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