Revised Jurisdictional Thresholds for Section 7a of the Clayton Act

AGENCY:

Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Trade Commission announces the revised thresholds for the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 required by the 2000 amendment of Section 7A of the Clayton Act.

DATES:

April 3, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nora Whitehead (202-326-3100), Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Competition, Premerger Notification Office, 400 7th Street SW, Room 5301, Washington, DC 20024.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Section 7A of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. 18a, as added by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, Public Law 94-435, 90 Stat. 1390 (“the Act”), requires all persons contemplating certain mergers or acquisitions, which meet or exceed the jurisdictional thresholds in the Act, to file notification with the Commission and the Assistant Attorney General and to wait a designated period of time before consummating such transactions. Section 7A(a)(2) requires the Federal Trade Commission to revise those thresholds annually, based on the change in gross national product, in accordance with Section 8(a)(5). Note that while the filing fee thresholds are revised annually, the actual filing fees are not similarly indexed and, as a result, have not been adjusted for inflation in over a decade. The new thresholds, which take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, are as follows:

Any reference to these thresholds and related thresholds and limitation values in the HSR rules (16 CFR parts 801-803) and the Antitrust Improvements Act Notification and Report Form (“the HSR Form”) and its Instructions will also be adjusted, where indicated by the term “(as adjusted)”, as follows: