The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department announced today that they plan to hold two additional workshops to facilitate public dialogue on the 2023 Draft Merger Guidelines that the agencies announced in July. Like the agencies’ first workshop on September 5, these events will promote a detailed discussion about the draft guidelines to complement the thousands of public comments submitted to the agencies. Each of the two remaining workshops will be held in-person at an academic institution. 

The second workshop, co-hosted with the MIT Economics Department and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, will take place at the Harvard Kennedy School on October 5 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET.  Participants that register  will receive a link to view the event virtually.  More information, including a tentative agenda for the workshop, can be found on the event page.

The third workshop, co-hosted with the University of Chicago Law School, Coase Sandor Institute for Law and Economics, will take place on November 3 from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. CT.  More information about the workshop, including an agenda, will be made available on the FTC’s website in the coming weeks.

The FTC and the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division are reviewing comments from the public on the Draft Guidelines, submitted online during the comment period, at www.regulations.gov/docket/FTC-2023-0043.

If either event needs to be postponed for any reason, information on rescheduling will appear on the event page.

The agencies protect competition through enforcement of the antitrust laws and other federal competition statutes. Since 1968, the agencies have issued and revised merger guidelines to enhance transparency and promote awareness of how the agencies review mergers and acquisitions under the federal antitrust laws.