Announced Actions for December 6, 2005

Publication of Federal Register notice: The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice concerning final amendments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Rules, 16 C.F.R. Parts 801 and 803. As detailed in the notice, which will be published shortly and can be found on the FTC’s Web site and as a link to this press release, the Commission is enacting a change to relieve the burden of complying with Items 4(a) and (b) of the Notification and Report Form. Currently, paper copies of annual reports, annual audit reports, and regularly prepared balance sheets and copies of certain documents, such as 10Ks filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, must be provided in response to these Items. The modification will allow filing persons to provide an Internet address linking directly to the documents required by Items 4(a) and (b) in lieu of providing paper copies.

The second amendment to the rules will specify that an acquiring person’s notification, and an acquired person’s notification in certain types of transactions, will expire after eighteen months if a second request to them remains outstanding. In addition, the Commission is making technical corrections to certain rules and to the form and instructions to address certain oversights in the final rules promulgated in connection with the treatment of unincorporated entities.

The rulemaking has been drafted jointly with staff of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, and reflects their views as well as those of the staff of the FTC’s Premerger Notification Office. The Commission vote approving publication of the Federal Register notice was 4-0. (FTC File No. P989316; the staff contact is Michael Verne, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-3167, see related press release dated August 9, 2005.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.