US eases up on rules for corporate mergers

The Reagan administration wants to reduce ''uncertainty'' among businessmen as to when it is likely and unlikely to challenge corporate mergers on antitrust grounds.

The Justice Department issued 44 pages of revised antitrust merger guidelines Monday, the first time these had been changed since 1968. William Baxter, the department's antitrust chief, said that the new rules are in some ways more permissive than the old ones but that he does not expect them to lead to a rush of mergers.