Regulatory rollercoaster: Five key developments you need to know

What legislative shifts do you need to watch in the coming months? We highlight some notable regulatory developments in North America, from Huawei suing the FCC to the impact of a US-China “decoupling”.

	The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division temporarily suspended their practice of granting "early termination" to merger filings made under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act), effective February 4. Since the decision’s announcement, both agencies have faced criticism from the private sector and former officials arguing that the move will disproportionately affect smaller acquisitions that are highly unlikely to be problematic.
	On February 5, Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a bill to reform the protections provided to tech companies under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The bill would curtail a shield that protects tech platforms from liability for user content.
	Huawei Technologies filed a lawsuit on February 8 against the Federal Communications Commission's decision to designate the telecom’s equipment as a national security threat.
	NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have both sued the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in an attempt to block a plan by the regulator to change the way stock prices are broadcasted to investors, according to a February 9 Reuters report. The SEC’s plan, approved in December of last year, would provide public feeds with access to supply and demand data for stocks.
	The US Chamber of Commerce released a lengthy report on February 17 that examines the complexities of the US and China’s economic relationship. The report analyzes four key sectors (chemicals, medical devices, aviation and semiconductors) to quantify how these two economies are interconnected and the costs of a sudden decoupling of these interests.