The thresholds' increase arises from amendments made to the HSR Act in 2000, which require the FTC to adjust the thresholds annually for change in the gross national product. All of the notification and exemption dollar thresholds in the HSR statute, regulations, and reporting instructions that are subject to annual adjustments will also be adjusted. The new HSR dollar thresholds will be as follows:
Original Threshold | 2011 Threshold |
$10 million | $13.2 million |
$50 million | $66.0 million |
$100 million | $131.9 million |
$110 million | $145.1 million |
$200 million | $263.8 million |
$500 million | $659.5 million |
$1 billion | $1.3190 billion |
The FTC has also announced that it will be adjusting both dollar thresholds for Section 8 of the Clayton Act to account for changes in the gross national product. Section 8, in many circumstances, forbids a person from serving as an officer or director of two competing corporations if two thresholds are met. Under the revised thresholds, effective when published in the Federal Register, Section 8 may apply when each of the competing corporations has capital, surplus, and undivided profits aggregating more than $26,867,000, and each corporation's competitive sales are at least $2,686,700.