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FTC Publishes 2014 Update
Practical Law Legal Update 1-562-9405 (Approx. 5 pages)
FTC Publishes 2014 Update
by Practical Law Antitrust
| Published on 31 Mar 2014 • USA (National/Federal) |
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its annual highlights of the 2013 fiscal year.
The FTC recently published its annual highlights for the 2013 fiscal year, emphasizing its efforts in government policy, education and law enforcement, as well as providing helpful statistics and data.
Policy
The FTC listed the many ways it worked to implement government policies that promote competition, including:
- Filing advocacy comments suggesting ways to incorporate procompetitive principles into regulatory decision-making for:
- the scope of practice of non-physician health care professionals and health care provider collective bargaining;
- accreditation standards for the American Dental Association; and
- local taxicab regulations.
- Submitting amicus briefs supporting pro-consumer law enforcement, including one addressing application of the Supreme Court's ruling in FTC v. Actavis (see Legal Update, FTC Files Amicus Brief to Expand the Holding of Supreme Court's Actavis Decision to Non-cash Reverse Payment Settlements).
- Testifying before Congress on the FTC's areas of expertise.
- Hosting workshops to encourage discussions on competition policy, including one on follow-on biologics.
- Issuing FTC and staff reports to offer insight into FTC policy.
- Collaborating with international competition agencies, including by:
- conducting bilateral meetings with the EU, Canada, Mexico, Japan, China and India; and
- traveling to 27 countries through its international competition and consumer protection technical assistance program.
Education
The FTC continued its work to educate businesses on compliance standards, including by debuting a competition blog containing news from the:
- Bureaus of Competition and Economics.
- Office of Policy Planning.
- Office of International Affairs.
Enforcement
The FTC highlighted two Supreme Court victories representing significant wins for the FTC in 2013:
- FTC v. Actavis (see Legal Update, Supreme Court Issues Decision in Pay-for-Delay Case FTC v. Actavis).
- FTC v. Phoebe Putney (see Legal Update, Supreme Court Overturns 11th Circuit Decision in FTC v. Phoebe Putney).
The FTC noted that those victories were important wins for consumers as they will allow the FTC to pursue anticompetitive pay-for-delay settlements and over-broad interpretations of state action immunity. The FTC also noted its victory in its action challenging the merger of Polypore International and Microporous when the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the FTC's opinion and order reversing the merger.
Among the FTC's other enforcement actions were actions challenging mergers and anticompetitive activity across various markets, such as:
- Health care, including challenges to:
- the St. Luke's Hospital and Saltzer Medical Group merger (see Legal Update, FTC and Idaho Attorney General Object to St. Luke's Health System's Acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group);
- the Mylan, Inc. and Agila Specialties merger;
- an illegal collective bargaining agreement and other concerted behavior among independent nephrologists in Puerto Rico; and
- anticompetitive conduct by the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners (see Legal Update, FTC Wins Fourth Circuit's Approval on both State Action and Section 1 Challenges).
- Technology, including challenges to mergers of:
- Nielsen and Arbitron, in the future market for cross-platform audience measurement services; and
- Honeywell International, Inc. and Intermec Inc., in the 2-D scan engine market.
- Energy and the environment, including challenges to the Tesoro and Chevron merger.
- Consumer services, including challenges to:
- the Albertson's and United Supermarkets merger;
- the Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. and Ameristar Casinos, Inc. merger (see Legal Update, FTC Challenges Proposed Casino Merger);
- anticompetitive conduct of two professional services organizations (see Legal Update, FTC Settles Charges with Two Professional Associations over Anticompetitive Code of Ethics Provisions);
- the Service Corporation International and Stewart Enterprises merger, combining the top two funeral and cemetery service providers in the nation; and
- the merger between Ardagh and Saint-Gobain, competing glass bottle manufacturers.
For summaries of the FTC merger enforcement actions listed above, see What's Market, Federal Merger Enforcement Actions. For a 2013 year-in-review of merger enforcement across both the FTC and DOJ, see Article, The Year in Review: 2013 Federal Merger Enforcement.
For more information on the FTC's civil nonmerger enforcement actions, see Section 5 of the FTC Act: Nonmerger Competition Enforcement Actions Chart.
Statistics and Data for 2013
The FTC provided a breakdown of its antitrust enforcement efforts for 2013. The percentage of enforcement actions the FTC brought from 2009-2013 by market sector was:
- 32% health care, general.
- 29% manufacturing and chemicals.
- 14% health care, pharmaceuticals.
- 11% retail goods and services.
- 8% technology.
- 5% energy.
For antitrust enforcement actions by type, the FTC:
- Issued 13 merger consent orders.
- Filed three merger cases and five non-merger actions.
- Saw one abandoned transaction.
- Brought two civil penalty actions.