REGULATION

FTC Adopts New Antitrust Review Rules: The Federal Trade Commission said the rules are designed to ease pre-merger antitrust review requirements. Under the new rules, transactions that are not likely to raise antitrust or anticompetition concerns would be exempted from reporting requirements under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The law requires mergers involving large companies to file pre-merger notification with the FTC and the Justice Department and to let a waiting period lapse before completing the transactions. The waiting period allows the government time to review and challenge mergers that may violate antitrust laws. The new rules were proposed in July 1995.