Event Description
The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department are co-hosting a workshop to facilitate public dialogue on the 2023 Draft Merger Guidelines the agencies announced in July.
The workshop is aimed at promoting a dynamic discussion about the draft guidelines to complement the comments currently being submitted to the agencies by the public. The goal of the merger guidelines update is to better reflect how the agencies determine a merger’s effect on competition in the modern economy and evaluate proposed mergers under the law.
The virtual workshop will feature two panel discussions with former enforcers, academics, economists, and practitioners regarding questions and issues on which public comment will be most useful.
The workshop will take place from 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET and will be livestreamed on the FTC’s website.
The FTC and DOJ continue to encourage comments from the public on the draft guidelines, which may be submitted online through September 18, 2023. The agencies will use the public comments to evaluate and update the draft before finalizing the guidelines
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Agenda
1:00 pm Welcome and Introduction
Aviv Nevo, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics, and Susan Athey, Chief Economist, DOJ Antitrust Division, provide opening remarks.
1:15 pm Panel 1: Evolving Approaches to Raising Rivals’ Costs and Vertical Mergers from the 2020 VMG to the Draft Merger Guidelines
Moderator:
David Lawrence, Policy Director DOJ Antitrust Division
Panelists:
- Barry Nigro, Fried Frank, Chair, Global Antitrust and Competition Department
- Peter Carstensen, Fred W. & Vi Miller Chair in Law Emeritus at University of Wisconsin Law School
- Charlotte Slaiman, Competition Policy Director, Public Knowledge,
- Amanda Lewis, Partner, Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca
- Steven Salop, Professor of Economics and Law, Georgetown University Law Center
2:45 pm Panel 2: Evolving Approaches to Mergers Between Rivals from the 2010 HMG to the Draft Merger Guidelines
Moderator:
Susan Athey, Chief Economist DOJ Antitrust Division
Panelists:
- Nathan Miller, Professor, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business and Department of Economics
- Laura Alexander, Director of Markets and Competition Policy, Washington Center for Equitable Growth
- Eleanor Fox, Walter J. Derenberg Professor of Trade Regulation Emerita, New York University School of Law
- Mark Meador, Partner, Kressin Meador LLC
- Eric Cramer, Chairman, Antitrust Department Co-Chair, Berger Montague
4:15 pm Closing
