The US DoJ and FTC issue new vertical merger guidelines

Department of Justice And Federal Trade Commission Issue New Vertical Merger Guidelines* 2020 Guidelines More Accurately Represent Agencies’ Merger Review Process The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission issued today new Vertical Merger Guidelines that outline how the federal antitrust agencies evaluate the likely competitive impact of mergers and whether those mergers comply with U.S. antitrust law. These new Vertical Merger Guidelines mark the first time the Department and the FTC have issued joint guidelines on vertical mergers, and represent the first major revision to guidance on vertical mergers since the Department’s 1984 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which the Department withdrew in January of this year. In March 2019, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim