Commission Approves Federal Register Notice Regarding Allowable Disclosure Charges Under the FCRA; FTC Approves Final Consent Order in Matter of Watson/Andrx

Commission approval of Federal Register notice: The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice regarding the ceiling on allowable charges for certain disclosures under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). As detailed in the notice, which will be published shortly and is available now on the FTC’s Web site, the ceiling on allowable charges for certain disclosures under the FCRA, Section 612(f)(1)(A), will remain at $10.00 in 2007. This section of the Act provides that, in those cases where the FCRA does not require the disclosure to be made without charge, a consumer reporting agency may charge a reasonable amount for making a disclosure to the consumer, provided the charge does not exceed a statutory maximum and is indicated to the consumer before the disclosure is made. The Act provides that the charge may not exceed $8.00, adjusted annually for inflation, with fractional changes rounded to the nearest 50 cents.

This charge does not apply to consumers’ requests for free annual disclosures under the provisions of Section 211(a) of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). The charge does, however, apply when a consumer has already received a free annual disclosure and does not otherwise qualify for an additional free disclosure. The Commission vote to publish the notice in the Federal Register was 5-0. (File No. P075400; staff contact is Keith B. Anderson, Bureau of Economics, 202-326-3428.)

Commission approval of final consent order: Following a public comment period, the Commission has approved the issuance of final consent order in the matter concerning Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s acquisition of Andrx Corporation. The vote to approve the final consent order, copies of which can be found on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release, was 4-0, with Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch voting not participating - recused. (FTC File No.061-0139, the staff contact is Kari Wallace, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-3085; see press release dated October 31, 2006.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.