On May 21, 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and
Department of Justice (DOJ) released the Hart-Scott-Rodino Annual Report covering
Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 (October 1, 2012 – September 30,
2013). The report describes key merger enforcement actions
over the past year and provides interesting data regarding the
agencies' antitrust enforcement activity.
Specifically, the report indicates that in FY 2013, 1,326
transactions were reported under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act,
representing an approximate 7 percent decline in reported
transactions from FY 2012. The FTC was granted clearance to
investigate 145 of these transactions, while the DOJ was granted
clearance to investigate 72 transactions. Of the 145
transactions the FTC investigated in FY 2013, it only issued 25
second requests. In other words, the FTC only issued second
requests in 17.2 percent of its investigations in FY 2013.
The DOJ's Antitrust Division, on the other hand, issued second
requests in
