FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	AT

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2003	(202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV	TDD (202) 514-1888

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND FTC ISSUE MERGER CHALLENGES DATA,

ANNOUNCE UPCOMING MERGER ENFORCEMENT WORKSHOP

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today issued a report summarizing merger challenges data for the two agencies for fiscal years 1999-2003, and announced that they will hold a joint workshop on merger enforcement in Washington, D.C., on February 17-19, 2004.

The merger challenges data focuses on the agencies' merger enforcement decisions during the past five years, and contains tabulated market share and concentration levels associated with the Department's and FTC's decisions to challenge mergers in a wide range of product markets. The data tabulations use the two market share concentration statistics described in the agencies' Horizontal Merger Guidelines--the post-merger Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the change in the HHI--and reflect 173 mergers and 1,263 markets in total.

The agencies' announcement of the merger enforcement workshop presents the timing of the workshop, solicits comments from interested parties, and contains information on the specific topics to be addressed. Copies of the announcement of a workshop on merger enforcement, as well as the summary of merger challenges data for fiscal years 1999-2003, can be found on the Antitrust Division's website http://www.usdoj.gov/atr

FTC MEDIA CONTACT:	Mitchell J. Katz, Office of Public Affairs

202-326-2161

DOJ MEDIA CONTACT:	Gina Talamona, Office of Public Affairs

202-514-2007

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