Competition Bureau And U.S. Antitrust Agencies Issue Best Practices On Cooperation In Cross-Border Mergers

On March 25, 2014, the Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau) and the United States' Department of Justice's Antitrust Division (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a document describing their best practices on cooperation during the review of cross-border mergers (Best Practices Document). The Best Practices Document reflects the current practices of the agencies when cooperating on the review of cross-border mergers and provides guidance to merging parties to facilitate such cooperation.

The implications for businesses are as follows:

• close coordination and advance planning between Canadian and U.S. counsel is critical in cross-border mergers;
• antitrust agencies in Canada and the U.S. should be apprised of the progress of reviews being conducted in the other jurisdiction; and