Premerger Notification; Reporting and Waiting Period Requirements

AGENCY:

Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY:

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) is extending the deadline for filing comments on its notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) regarding the Premerger Notification; Reporting and Waiting Period Requirements.

DATES:

For the NPRM published in the Federal Register on June 27, 2023 (88 FR 42178), the comment deadline is extended from August 28, 2023, to September 27, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write “16 CFR parts 801–803—Hart-Scott-Rodino Coverage, Exemption, and Transmittal Rules, Project No. P239300'” on your comment, and file your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov, by following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC–5610, (Annex H), Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert L. Jones, Assistant Director, Premerger Notification Office, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, 400 7th Street SW, Room CC–5301, Washington, DC 20024.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Comment Period Extension

On June 27, 2023, the Commission announced and made public its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino Coverage, Exemption, and Transmittal Rules (“HSR Form Change”), including its request for public comment on all aspects of the proposed rule. The NPRM was subsequently published in the Federal Register , with August 28, 2023, established as the deadline for the submission of comments. See88 FR 42178 (June 29, 2023).

Interested parties have requested an extension of the public comment period to give them additional time to respond to the NPRM's request for comment. While the Commission believes that the current 60-day period—which is 62 days after public release of the notice of proposed rulemaking—is sufficient for meaningful comment and public participation, the Commission agrees to allow the public additional time to prepare and file comments. The Commission therefore extends the comment period to September 27, 2023, to provide commenters a total of 92 days from the public release of the NPRM on June 27, 2023. This is a 30-day extension of the 60-day comment period from publication in the Federal Register on June 29, 2023.

II. Request for Comment

You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before September 27, 2023. Write “16 CFR parts 801–803—Hart-Scott-Rodino Coverage, Exemption, and Transmittal Rules, Project No. P239300” on your comment. Your comment—including your name and your state—will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the https://www.regulations.gov website.

Because of the agency's security screening, postal mail addressed to the Commission will be subject to delay. We strongly encourage you to submit your comment online through https://www.regulations.gov. To ensure the Commission considers your online comment, please follow the instructions on the web-based form.

If you file your comment on paper, write “16 CFR parts 801–803—Hart-Scott-Rodino Coverage, Exemption, and Transmittal Rules, Project No. P239300” on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC–5610, (Annex H), Washington, DC 20580. If possible, please submit your paper comment to the Commission by overnight service.

Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible website, https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential information. In particular, your comment should not contain sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone else's Social Security number; date of birth; driver's license number or other state identification number or foreign country equivalent; passport number; financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also responsible for making sure your comment does not include any sensitive health information, such as medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment should not include any “trade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or confidential,”—as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)—including, in particular, competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.

Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled “Confidential,” and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c). The written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(b). Your comment will be kept confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has been posted publicly at https://www.regulations.gov —as legally required by FTC Rule 4.9(b), 16 CFR 4.9(b)—we cannot redact or remove your comment, unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c), and the General Counsel grants that request.

Visit the Commission's website, www.ftc.gov, to read this publication and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it receives on or before September 27, 2023. For information on the Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.