Second request

In United States antitrust law, a second request is a discovery procedure by which the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department investigate mergers and acquisitions which may have anticompetitive consequences.

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, before certain mergers, tender offers or other acquisition transactions can close, both parties to the deal must file a "Notification and Report Form" with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.

A typical second request asks to gather information about the sales, facilities, assets, and structure of the businesses which are party to the transaction.

[1] This frequently requires a large number of documents to be produced, and law firms representing parties to a transaction in which a second request has been issued often must hire contract attorneys to review all the documents involved.

[1] This article relating to law in the United States or its constituent jurisdictions is a stub.