30. Federal Trade Commission · Minor
Apply the same standard of proof to claimed efficiencies as to competitive harm
Not started
Printed page 872 30. Federal Trade Commission
“Further, a similar standard of proof used to establish that a practice challenged by the Commission causes harm to competition must also apply in demonstrating the efficiencies that justify the practices.”
What has happened
- Not started
No statement, guideline or rule in the window addresses the standard of proof for claimed efficiencies. The Commission's only framework decision was Chairman Ferguson's 2025-02-18 memo keeping the 2023 Merger Guidelines in effect unchanged; the treatment of efficiencies in those Guidelines is what it was in December 2023, and nothing was raised or equalized.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Leveled with #2235.
pre_satisfiedwas considered and rejected: whether the 2023 Guidelines already hold efficiencies to “a similar standard of proof” is a contested legal reading, and the flag is for asks demonstrably satisfied before 2025-01-20, not for arguable ones. - ftc.gov press-release search for
efficienciesreturns nothing in the window.
- Action
- other
- Object
- FTC standard of proof for efficiencies defenses
- ID
- 2236