FTC Announces Public Workshop on Basics of the Premerger Notification Program

The Federal Trade Commission today announced that the Bureau of Competition’s Premerger Notification Office will host a half-day workshop on the basics of the U.S. premerger notification program in Washington, DC, on October 23, 2008.

The workshop, which is free and open to the public, is being held in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the implementation of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. It’s designed to provide a primer, especially for new attorneys, on the basics of the premerger notification process. Under the HSR Act, all proposed mergers, acquisitions, or other transactions valued at more than $63.1 million, with limited exceptions, must be reported to both the FTC and the Department of Justice before they are consummated to allow the agencies to determine if they are potentially anticompetitive.

The workshop will cover such topics as how to determine whether premerger notification is required and how to prepare an HSR filing. Pre-registration is now open, and, due to space considerations, is limited to practitioners with less than one year of experience with premerger notification rules and filings. The workshop will be held at the FTC’s satellite building conference center, located at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. All attendees will be required to display a current driver’s license or other form of photo identification for entry. The workshop also will be webcast live; check the Web site link below on the day of the event to view.

For more information or to preregister, visit http://www.ftc.gov/bc/workshops/hsr/.

Reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. Requests for such accommodations should be submitted via e-mail to: cmcglothin@ftc.gov or by calling Carrie McGlothin at 202-326-3388. Such requests should include a detailed description of the accommodations needed and a way to contact you if we need more information. Please provide advance notice.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC's online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,500 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC's Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.

(HSR Workshop.final.wpd)