Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) has joined Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) in introducing the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, which would update merger filing fees for the first time since 2001, reduce disparity in filing fees among small and large companies, and increase agency resources to efficiently and effectively address antitrust violations.
Spartz
“Competition and free markets are fundamental to our freedoms,” Rep. Spartz said. “Ever-increasing government regulations have created distortions and contributed to a rise in monopolies and oligopolies in many sectors of our economy. I am happy to co-lead the bipartisan Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, which will provide improved resources for better enforcement of abuses of monopoly powers and shift the burden from taxpayers and smaller entities to larger companies demanding larger resource allocations.”
While the number of merger filings have significantly increased over the past two decades, premerger filing fees have not been changed in two decades. The current fee structure has created a fee schedule disproportionate to transaction sizes.
To ensure this legislation is a permanent solution to the outdated fee structure and not a one-time fix, the filing fees will be linked to increases in the Consumer Price Index going forward.
Click here to read the full text of the bill.