Antitrust Enforcement

Free and fair competition is an essential component of our economic system. These laws are designed to protect and encourage open competition between businesses. The primary goal of competition is to offer the highest quality product or service at the best price and to encourage innovation. Consumers are the ultimate beneficiary of a competitive market. If businesses restrict competition by price fixing, allocating markets, abusing monopoly power, or engaging in other anticompetitive conduct, the benefits of competition are not realized. 

The Bureau enforces New Hampshire’s antitrust law (RSA 356), its consumer protection law, which includes unfair methods of competition (RSA 358-A), and federal antitrust laws (Sherman and Clayton Acts). New Hampshire partners with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and other state attorneys general to conduct multistate investigations and litigation. 

The Bureau reviews proposed merger transactions between competitors to determine if the merger or acquisition will result in a substantial lessening of competition in any particular line of commerce that the entities are engaged in. In recent years, the Bureau has reviewed numerous proposed hospital merger transactions within New Hampshire. 

The Bureau encourages consumers and businesses to report a potential violation of law or proposed merger transaction to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office. To report anticompetitive practices in New Hampshire, please file a complaint using the Bureau’s Consumer Complaint Review Process by using the following link: Consumer Complaints | New Hampshire Department of Justice.