United States of America
Federal Trade Commission
Washington, DC 20580 | Department of Justice
Antitrust Division
Washington, DC 20530 |
DOJ BUSINESS REVIEWS AND FTC STAFF ADVISORY OPINION LETTERS RELATED TO HURRICANE KATRINA AND HURRICANE RITA AFTERMATH
Under long-standing procedures, both the Antitrust Division of the Department of
Justice and the Federal Trade Commission ("the Agencies") provide guidance to
businesses concerned about the legality of proposed conduct under the antitrust laws.
Persons concerned about the legality under the antitrust laws of proposed business
conduct relating to the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may utilize those
procedures and request the Department or the FTC to state its antitrust enforcement
intentions under the traditional antitrust guidance procedures. In the aftermath of the
devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, however, the Department and the
FTC recognize that there may be an acute need for parties to receive a statement of the
Agencies' antitrust enforcement intentions on an expedited basis and have therefore
adopted the streamlined procedures described below.
In an effort to provide expedited antitrust guidance with respect to requests
related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Department and the FTC will permit parties to
submit a request for antitrust guidance via fax, email, or regular mail along with whatever
information and documents the requesting parties can reasonably provide. The
Department and the FTC will commit to respond as specifically as possible to a request
for a business review letter (DOJ) or staff advisory opinion (FTC) within five (5)
business days of receipt.
To utilize this temporary procedure, parties need to undertake the following:
- Requests to the Department of Justice should be submitted to Hurricane
Business Review Office in writing via fax at 202-514-8726, email at
Hurricane.Biz.Review@usdoj.gov, or mail to Hurricane Business Review
Office, 950 Constitution Ave, N.W., Room 3109, Washington, D.C.
20530-0001. Requests to the FTC should be submitted to the Federal
Trade Commission (Hurricane Advice), Box 1C, Room 172-H, via fax at
(202) 326-2496; via email at hurricaneadvice@ftc.gov; or via mail to the
Federal Trade Commission (Hurricane Advice), Box 1C, Room 172-H,
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Please note
that paper mail in the Washington, D.C. area and at the Agencies is
subject to delay.
- The request must explain how it is related to the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina or Hurricane Rita and provide a description of the nature and
rationale of the proposal (including the names of the participants, the
product(s) or service(s) the proposal will cover, and the temporal and
geographic scope of the arrangement), any proposed contractual or other
arrangements among the parties (including copies of any documents
memorializing the contract or arrangement), the names of the major
expected customers, and any available information regarding the
competitive significance of other providers of the product(s) or service(s)
to be offered. The request must also provide the name and contact
information of a person whom the Agencies can contact for additional
information.
- Any additional information submitted with the request for a business
review letter or a staff advisory opinion, or additional information
requested by the Agencies may be supplied via fax, email, or, in the
Agencies' discretion, orally.
- The Agencies' responses to requests pursuant to this expedited procedure
will be in effect for one (1) year from the date of the response. Parties
may subsequently request, utilizing these expedited procedures, that the
Department or FTC reiterate its intention not to challenge the conduct, if
further time is necessary to respond to Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane
Rita.
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