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NextGen, Labor, & Civil Society Partners Submit Comment to Strengthen the New Merger Guidelines

Groups Applaud Shift Towards Vigorous Merger Oversight

Sep 13, 2023

The Open Markets Institute and partners including SEIU, Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA), Public Citizen, NextGen Competition and more, have submitted a comment urging the Justice Department (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to strengthen and clarify the new, draft merger guidelines. In the comment, the groups applaud the agencies for rejecting the 40-year trend that shifted their focus from “clamp[ing] down with vigor on mergers” to instead promoting narrow and economically dubious notions of “efficiency.” By anchoring the draft guidelines to the text of the Clayton Act and binding Supreme Court precedence, the Agencies, in the draft guidelines, demonstrate their intent to apply the law as Congress intended.