Antitrust Accountability and Transparency Act

Summary

Makes several changes to federal antitrust procedure and disclosure rules: it gives certain findings by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) greater preclusive effect in later antitrust litigation, shortens multiple public notice and comment deadlines, requires broader public disclosure of FTC materials and proposed settlement terms, and tightens timing and hold-separate rules for transactions that are the subject of consent judgments or agency review. It also clarifies that complying with these notice-and-comment steps satisfies other related procedural requirements. One provision about extending court-ordered hold-separate periods in consent-judgment cases is truncated in the provided text and cannot be fully summarized.

• Allows FTC findings under the FTC Act to be given collateral-estoppel (preclusive) effect in later antitrust litigation.
• Shortens multiple public-notice and comment periods from 60 days to 45 days and adjusts publication language to include the FTC.
• Expands required public disclosure to include FTC materials, settlement offers, proposed divestitures, remedies, and the decision process behind them.
• Permits commenters to file replies to agency responses and requires certain agency actions within 30 days after comment periods close.
• Declares that FTC compliance with the revised notice-and-comment steps satisfies other related notice-and-comment obligations for consent judgments.
• Requires merging parties in a Section 7 proceeding to keep transaction-related assets separate until 15 days after the agency publishes its response to comments; the court may extend this hold-separate period (text truncated).
• Revises procedural references (e.g., agency designees) and shortens several statutory deadlines, altering the cadence of merger review and consent-judgment processes.
• Increases transparency of enforcement processes but also raises litigation stakes by enabling preclusive effect for FTC findings.