Reforms made to the US Federal Trade Commission’s merger review process
The FTC has announced a series of reforms to the agency’s merger review process. The reforms are designed to reduce the costs and time required to complete merger investigations in which ‘second requests’ have been issued under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification Act. The primary reforms to the merger review process establish presumptions that the FTC will:
limit the number of employees required to provide information in response to a second request, provided the party complies with specified conditions
reduce the period for which a party must provide documents in response to the second request
allow a party to preserve far fewer backup tapes and produce documents on those tapes only when responsive documents are not available through more accessible sources
significantly reduce the amount of information parties must submit regarding documents they consider to be privileged.
The reforms apply to all merger notifications submitted after 17 February 2006.
Air cargo firms investigated
The European Commission, US Department of Justice and Korean Fair Trade Commission have begun to investigate allegations of price fixing in the air cargo industry. British Airways, Air France KLM, Cargolux, SAS, Japan Airlines, Korean Air and Lufthansa are among the airlines asked for information or whose premises have been raided by the competition regulators.
The EU has alleged that a cartel was formed between the airlines in 2000 involving agreements on surcharges imposed by airlines to offset certain external costs (such as fuel). The European Shippers' Council and other lobby groups have expressed concern about the methodology used by the air cargo industry in calculating extra fees, noting that in some cases last year the surcharge exceeded the transport cost.
The raids are a preliminary step in investigations into suspected cartels and do not mean the companies raided are guilty of anti-competitive behaviour.
Proposals to strengthen consumer protection in the UK
The British Government is consulting on proposals to bring the existing range of consumer bodies, including the National Consumer Council, Energywatch and Postwatch, together to offer consumers better protection.
The proposed model has three elements:
extending Consumer Direct to provide a single point of contact so that consumers get the advice and help they need
new ombudsmen schemes—to resolve complaints when service providers have not been able to do so
a new consumer body, Consumer Voice, to bring together the National Consumer Council and sectoral consumer bodies to represent the interests of consumers in all markets and offer the best industry-wide consumer protection.
EC reviews consumer policy directives
The European Commission (EC) is reviewing the eight key directives that make up the ‘Consumer Acquis’ in an attempt to update consumer laws and ensure consumers are appropriately protected. The review aims to evaluate to what extent the current directives meet the EC’s consumer protection and internal market goals. The eight key directives are:
doorstep selling
package travel
unfair contract terms
timeshare
distance selling
unit prices
injunctions
sale of goods and associated guarantees.
EU opens antitrust probe into Spanish telecommunications company
European Union antitrust regulators are investigating the Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica S.A., claiming it appears to have abused a dominant position in Spain's market for broadband internet access by squeezing margins for new entrants.
France's highest court boosts copyright protection on film DVDs
In a win for film companies such as Vivendi Universal SA, the Cour de Cassation in Paris recently ruled that French consumers aren't entitled to make personal copies of DVDs, even if they don't distribute them.
The court quashed a decision by a lower court, and ruled that a consumer can't make a backup copy of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. The purchaser had argued that Vivendi's Studio Canal film-production unit didn't have the right to use a device that made it impossible to burn duplicate digital video discs.
The judgment means that the right to make personal copies can be restricted by copyright holders if the copying ‘could cause an unjustified damage to the legitimate interests of authors’.
