FTC to Pause Merger Review Filings if Government Shuts Down

The Federal Trade Commission won’t accept or process filings from companies about upcoming mergers if the government shuts down, in an effort to conserve resources when operating with a skeleton staff.

The revision to the FTC’s contingency plan, implemented on Thursday, comes just one week after Congress passed a temporary spending bill to avert a partial US government shutdown and finance agencies until March. Constant threats of a shutdown prompted the FTC to reassess its protocol, spokesperson Douglas Farrar told Bloomberg Law.

The commission’s Premerger Notification Office, which was previously set to operate with modifications during a shutdown, will ...