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The Federal Trade Commission, with the concurrence of the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, released the agencies’ 36^th Annual Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Annual Report (Fiscal Year 2013) regarding the HSR Premerger Notification Program. The premerger notification program is instrumental in alerting the agencies to transactions that may substantially lessen competition in violation of federal law.

The report notes that 1,326 transactions were reported to the antitrust agencies, a 7.2 percent decrease from the 1,429 transactions reported in FY 2012. The report also summarizes the agencies’ merger enforcement activities, highlighting the 38 merger enforcement actions that preserved competition in many sectors of the economy, including pharmaceuticals, health care and health insurance, industrial and high tech goods, commercial air travel, consumer goods, waste collection, and energy.

The agencies also brought two civil penalty actions against parties for failing to comply with the requirements of the HSR Act resulting in a combination of fines totaling $1.2 million. The report also summarizes recent amendments to the premerger notification rules, including a framework for the withdrawal of a premerger notification filing under the HSR Act, which allows parties to refile without incurring an additional filing fee.

Finally, statistical tables in the report contain data profiling HSR filings and investigations during FY 2013. Appendices provide a summary of transactions for the past ten years, and the number of transactions reported and the number of filings received by month during this time.

The report concludes with an assessment that, as Congress intended, the HSR Act continues to give the government the opportunity to investigate and challenge mergers that are likely to harm consumers before injury occurs. The Commission vote to issue the report was 5-0. It is available on the FTC’s website and as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. P110014; the staff contact is Jeanine Balbach, 202-326-2568)

The FTC’s Bureau of Competition works with the Bureau of Economics to investigate alleged anticompetitive business practices and, when appropriate, recommends that the Commission take law enforcement action. To inform the Bureau about particular business practices, call 202-326-3300, send an e-mail to antitrust{at}ftc{dot}gov, or write to the Office of Policy and Coordination, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, 601 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Room 7117, Washington, DC 20001. To learn more about the Bureau of Competition, read Competition Counts. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.