FTC Asks Appeals Court to Restore Biden Merger Notification Rule

The FTC has asked a federal appeals court to revive requirements for companies to divulge more information to US antitrust regulators ahead of potential mergers.

The Federal Trade Commission Wednesday appealed a Feb. 12 decision from a US district court judge in Texas blocking a 2024 Biden-era rule. The case is pending in the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

The regulation updated a decades-old US pre-merger notification program to require companies share more about overlapping business lines and ownership structures, among other details. Companies seeking combinations valued at $133.9 million or more must undergo an initial 30-day review by the FTC and Justice Department under the notice system.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Republican who was a commissioner during the Biden administration, voted with Democrats to adopt the rule. The program needed to adjust to keep up with mergers and acquisitions that have become more complex since the notification system started in the 1970s, Ferguson said last year. Still, the FTC received paperwork for about 200 deals days before the rules initially took effect in February 2025, far exceeding the 35-to-40 transactions the agency usually saw per week, according to Ferguson.

The US Chamber of Commerce and other business groups sued last year to stop the changes in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The organizations said the FTC added significant new burdens for no “good reason,” exceeding its authority.

Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas said in his order halting the rule that the FTC failed to show the regulation’s benefits “reasonably outweighed its costs.”

Representatives of the FTC and Chamber didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is Chamber of Commerce v. FTC, 5th Cir., No. 26-40094, notice of appeal filed 2/18/26.