SEATTLE, Wash. – Companies will be required to file a premerger with the Washington Attorney General’s Office as well as with the federal government starting on July 27, according to a new Washington law, according to Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown.
The law, called the Uniform Antitrust Premerger Notification Act and approved on April 4, 2025, expands the requirements for businesses attempting to merge companies.
The purpose of the law is to give the state more time to analyze mergers for possible anticompetitive effects, according to Brown’s statement about the law.
Before this law was passed, businesses would have to fill out and submit a Hart-Scott-Rodino form to the federal government. This has been a rule since the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act was passed in 1976 and allows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to review potential mergers for anti-competative effects.
A of a blocked merger was the merger between Kroger and Albertsons, which was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission in 2024. Then attorney general Bob Ferguson, now governor of Washington, was one of the initial entities that raised an antitrust lawsuit against the merger.
Now, the law requires Washington businesses to file a Hart-Scott-Rodino form with the Washington State Attorney’s Office at the same time as the federal submission.
There will not be a fee for the state notification filing.
“Washington is a trailblazer for the rest of the nation in adopting a premerger notification law,” Attorney General Nick Brown said. “This will allow state antitrust enforcers to protect consumer interests in an even more effective way.”
The law applies to businesses that have a primary place of business in Washington state, directly or indirectly have annual net sales of at least $25.28 million or are health care providers.
Washington state already had a law requiring premerger notification for mergers involving hospitals, hospital systems and provider organizations. This law will remain in effect.
