On Tuesday, June 27, US antitrust agencies announced proposed changes to the premerger notification form and associated instructions and rules that implement the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Among other things, the proposed amendments require a labor market analysis including workforce categories, geographic information, and details on labor and workplace safety violations.

The proposed amendments are intended to enable the federal agencies to better analyze the impact of a proposed merger on labor markets, and companies’ treatment of their employees. Should these changes be implemented, deals could face months of delay.

The agencies will take public comments on the proposed changes for 60 days. The new rules won’t go into effect until after the FTC and DOJ publish a final version, which is expected to take several months to complete.

For more details, please see the alert from our antitrust colleagues here.