Offenbar möchte kein Behördenleiter unbewaffnet in das heute beginnende Spring Meeting der ABA Antitrust Section gehen. Die EU hat gestern ihr Reformpaket für Vertriebs- und Lieferverträge vorgestellt. Die USA lassen sich nicht lumpen: DOJ und FTC haben (auch gestern) ihren Entwurf für neue Horizontal Merger Guidelines veröffentlicht. Hier der Text. Wer ist nicht dabei? Kartellblog., Flug annulliert. Argh.

Dem nun vorgestellten Entwurf der Horizontal Merger Guidelines für die HSR-Fusionskontrolle gingen eine Konsultation der Stakeholders in Form von Workshops und eine lebhaft geführte, öffentliche Debatte voraus.

Zum vorläufigen Ergebnis die Pressemitteilung der FTC von gestern:

Among the clarifications and differences between the current and proposed Guidelines are the following:

• The proposed Guidelines clarify that merger analysis does not use a single methodology, but is a fact-specific process through which the agencies use a variety of tools to analyze the evidence to determine whether a merger may substantially lessen competition.
• The proposed Guidelines introduce a new section on “Evidence of Adverse Competitive Effects.” This section discusses several categories and sources of evidence that the agencies, in their experience, have found informative in predicting the likely competitive effects of mergers.
• The proposed Guidelines explain that market definition is not an end itself or a necessary starting point of merger analysis, but instead a tool that is useful to the extent it illuminates the merger’s likely competitive effects.
• The proposed Guidelines provide an updated explanation of the hypothetical monopolist test used to define relevant antitrust markets and how the agencies implement that test in practice.
• The concentration levels that are likely to warrant either further scrutiny or challenge from the agencies are updated in the proposed Guidelines.
• The proposed Guidelines provide an expanded discussion of how the agencies evaluate unilateral competitive effects, including effects on innovation.
• The proposed Guidelines provide an updated section on coordinated effects. They clarify that coordinated effects, like unilateral effects, include conduct not otherwise condemned by the antitrust laws.
• The proposed Guidelines provide a simplified discussion of how the agencies evaluate whether entry into the relevant market is so easy that a merger is not likely to enhance market power.
• The proposed Guidelines add new sections on powerful buyers, mergers between competing buyers, and partial acquisitions [Erwerb von Minderheitsbeteiligungen].

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