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ARTICLE · 04 DECEMBER 2024

Antitrust In Focus - November 2024

A&O Shearman
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This newsletter is a summary of the antitrust developments we think are most interesting to your business.

GlobalAntitrust/Competition Law
Ryan Leske
Ryan Leske
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor
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New U.S. merger control filing forms to take effect in February 2025

Following publication in the Federal Register, the new Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) premerger notification forms will become effective on February 10, 2025. This is unless the new Trump administration issues a "regulatory freeze" postponing the effective date of the new rules. Such freezes have been commonplace at the outset of previous administrations and it is therefore possible that we won't see the revised forms kicking in until a later date.

In the meantime, transacting parties should plan to submit a filing using the new HSR form if a deal is to be notified on or after that date. They will need to factor in the significant additional burden and time required to prepare the new HSR form—the U.S. antitrust agencies estimate that it will require an average of 68 additional hours per filing, but this likely underestimates the additional burden on merging parties, especially for transactions

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