Yesterday a federal court for the Eastern District of Texas struck down the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) rule that expanded the amount of documentary material merging companies were required to include in a premerger notification to the agency. In a new insight, Director of Competition Policy Fred Ashton provides an overview of the ruling.

Key points:

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, American Investment Council, and Longview Chamber of Commerce challenged the HSR rule – which was promulgated in 2024 and went into effect in 2025 – alleging it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
• By the FTC’s own estimate, the rule would have nearly tripled the average time to comply with the new rules, at an added total cost of more than $139 million.
• The court noted in its ruling that the FTC failed to show the additional costs were necessary to prevent illegal mergers from being approved.

Read the analysis.