| [Billing Code: 6750-01P] FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION REQUEST FOR VIEWS ON DRAFT ANTITRUST
GUIDELINES AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission ACTION: Notice SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission"), in consultation with the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, has drafted Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors. The Guidelines, if adopted in final form by the FTC and the Department of Justice ("the Agencies"), will state the antitrust enforcement policy of the Agencies with regard to competition issues raised by collaborations among competitors. The Guidelines should enable businesses to evaluate proposed transactions with greater understanding of possible antitrust implications, thus encouraging procompetitive collaborations, deterring collaborations likely to harm competition and consumers, and facilitating the Agencies' investigations of collaborations. The Agencies are issuing the Guidelines in draft form to obtain advice and suggestions from businesses, consumers, and antitrust practitioners that will assist in ensuring that the Guidelines achieve these goals. DATES: Views should be submitted in writing as specified below by January 5, 2000. ADDRESSES: To facilitate efficient review, all views should be submitted in written and electronic form. Six hard copies of each submission should be addressed to Donald S. Clark, Office of the Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Submissions should be captioned "Draft Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors -- Submission of Views." Electronic submissions may be made in one of two ways. They may be filed on a 3-1/2 inch computer disk, with a label on the disk stating the name of the submitter and the name and version of the word processing program used to create the document. (Programs based on DOS or Windows are preferred. Files from other operating systems should be submitted in ASCII text format.) Alternatively, electronic submissions may be sent by electronic mail to jventures@ftc.gov. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Policy Planning staff at (202) 326-3712. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The draft Guidelines are a product of the Joint Venture Project initiated by the Commission to determine whether antitrust guidance to the business community could be improved through clarifying and updating antitrust policies regarding joint ventures and other forms of competitor collaboration. The Commission has provided opportunity for public input throughout each stage of the project. See 62 Fed. Reg. 22945 (1997) and 62 Fed. Reg. 48660 (1997). If adopted in final form, the draft Guidelines will state the Agencies' antitrust enforcement policy with regard to competition issues raised by collaborations among competitors. They are not intended to create or recognize any legally enforceable right or defense in any person or to affect the admissibility of evidence or in any other way to affect the course or conduct of any present or future litigation. By direction of the Commission. Donald S. Clark |