As a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the Federal Trade Commission’s Premerger Notification Office (PNO) has announced the implementation of a temporary e-filing system for filing and submission of premerger notification documents under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (the “HSR Act"). The HSR Act requires parties to proposed transactions that meet certain transaction size and other thresholds to file premerger notifications forms with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division (DOJ), and to observe a mandatory waiting period prior to closing such transactions. Like the FTC, the DOJ has also switched to electronic filing for submission of antirust filings under the Act. The agencies will no longer accept hard copies of merger notification documents until further notice.

The PNO has further announced that “[w]hile this temporary system is in place, early termination will not be granted for any filing.”

The FTC’s procedure for electronic filings may be found here.

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