The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted in an open meeting Wednesday to rescind a 1995 policy statement that allowed certain firms taking part in a merger to skirt prior approval requirements.
Prior to 1995, companies that violated the law in a previous merger were required to obtain prior FTC approval for any future transaction in the same product and geographic market for which a violation was alleged. As part of the 1995 policy statement, the Commission did away with that requirement, requiring prior approval only when a “credible risk” of an unlawful merger existed.
