Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen said the FTC should issue a...
Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen said the FTC should issue a policy statement on the application of Section 5 FTC Act authority to anticompetitive behavior, in a speech Thursday before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (http://1.usa.gov/1aLnRIg). “Others believe that, because there are…
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places worth visiting that the Sherman [Antitrust Act] railroad will not reach, it is important to be able to use the [unfair methods of competition] route under Section 5. They may be right in some cases, but, before we set off into uncharted waters, I want to know where we are going and, equally if not more important, where we will not venture,” she said. She cautioned that the FTC’s authority in the space should be limited to addressing harm to competition and thus consumers, not harm to competitors. She said the commission could accomplish a lot using existing antitrust law, and that Section 5 “should not play a significant role in the FTC’s competition enforcement efforts,” though the agency’s capabilities in law enforcement, policymaking and research made it nevertheless well suited to address issues with unfair methods of competition. Commissioner Joshua Wright issued a similar call last month (CD June 20 p8).