Government lawyers said they had concentrated on the anti-competitive effect of the deal.

Their opinions matter because they are likely to be consulted by Federal agencies scrutinizing the deal for potentially anti-competitive effects.

Vertical integration does not necessarily have any anti-competitive effect.

Both propose legislation aimed at dealing with anti-competitive effects rather than the form of an agreement.

A number of commenters expressed concern that the definition of the term "audit committee financial expert" may have anti-competitive effects.

Concerns also arise over anti-competitive effects and consequences due to:

The Department of Transportation itself appears to have had some questions about the anti-competitive effects the proposed merger might have.

However, anti-competitive effects are likely to be less severe the smaller is the subset of competing firms who join the collaborative programme.

We requested comment on any anti-competitive effects of the proposals.

We did not receive any comments regarding any anti-competitive effects of the proposal.