On June 30, 2020, the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade
Commission (the "Agencies") published final Vertical Merger Guidelines.
Draft Guidelines were previously released for public comment on
January 10. The Guidelines largely reflect the Agencies'
current approach and do not appear to represent any significant
change in enforcement posture or policy. They replace the existing
1984 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which were both out-of-date
and somewhat misleading. The Guidelines represent a largely
middle-of-the-road approach, but suggest a slight inclination to
view such deals as most likely procompetitive.
In connection with the DOJ's and FTC's enforcement of
Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits mergers that may
substantially lessen competition, the Agencies periodically publish
official guidance explaining their approach to merger review.
Published guidelines serve several purposes: (1) providing the
public (including practitioners) with
