REFLECTIONS ON TWENTY YEARS OF MERGER ENFORCEMENT UNDER THE HART-SCOTT-RODINO ACT

Abstract

Last September we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the enactment of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR Act or HSR).1 Celebrate may not be the word of choice for everyone, but, friend or foe, the statute has affected antitrust enforcement profoundly. At the time of its enactment it was described as one of the most far-reaching changes in antitrust enforcement since the passage of the Clayton Act in 191 4.2 That prophecy has rung true. Even apart from the premerger notification provisions of HSR, which are the focus of this article, HSR had a significant influence on antitrust enforcement through the increased Civil Investigative Demand (CID) authority it conferred on the Department of Justice.3 HSR's parens patriae provisions were another significant contribution.4 But it is premerger notification for