By Matthew Perlman

Law360 (March 16, 2020, 9:36 PM EDT) -- The head of the Federal Trade Commission's competition unit on Monday outlined several measures being implemented to help the agency adjust to "the realities of working" during the COVID-19 outbreak, but stressed that the unit is open for business.

Ian Conner, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said in a blog post the commission is implementing a variety of measures to help cope with the new and challenging circumstances that have arisen as a result of the outbreak. The bureau's priorities remain the health and well-being of staff, their families and parties appearing before the commission, he said, while continuing the "mission to protect competition and consumers."

"These are challenging times, but we have every confidence in the ability and goodwill of our staff — and of the counsel and parties with whom we deal — to continue the work of the bureau and move matters ahead as efficiently as possible," Conner said in the blog post. "Our working model may be changing in some ways for the foreseeable future, but we remain on duty and open for business."

Conner said that virtually all of the bureau's employees are now working remotely and that almost all meetings, both internal and external, are being handled via telephone or videoconference. This means parties should assume all meetings will be held remotely until further notice, even those with front office personnel. They should also expect all commissioner meetings for competition matters to be conducted remotely, he said.

The bureau is also currently conducting a review of its open investigations and litigations to see if deadlines for any timing agreements that have been entered into need to be modified.

"We understand that some proposed modifications may be inconvenient and that parties may be reluctant to agree to them, but we trust that parties will value a flexible and reasonable approach," Conner said.

Resources are being reallocated within the bureau as well, he said. This will mean a loss of capacity for some nonenforcement issues, but is intended to ensure that the bureau's core operations don't suffer. As a result, he said, bureau employees will be "canceling participation in most conferences and other public events for the foreseeable future, and any participation likely will be remotely rather than in person."

He also noted that travel restrictions have been imposed and that bureau staff will only be allowed to travel in "compelling circumstances" and with permission from the front office.

"This will have implications for a range of activities, and we are in the process of identifying and evaluating those implications," Conner said.

The blog post also pointed to the an announcement Friday that the FTC and U.S. Department of Justice will be implementing a temporary electronic filing system for Hart-Scott-Rodino Act submissions. Mergers that meet certain threshold have to be reported to the agencies for a review under the act, but hard-copy submissions were temporarily suspended and parties are instead being asked to use the e-filing procedure starting March 17.

Companies can typically ask the agencies to terminate merger reviews early, but Conner noted Monday that such requests for "early termination" will not be granted while the temporary system is in place.

"We appreciate your cooperation and patience as we negotiate this transition," Conner said.

--Additional reporting by Nadia Dreid. Editing by Breda Lund.

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