The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are taking aim at a widespread business practice that could be stifling competition and inflating prices for consumers.
On September 10, 2012, the two agencies will hold a joint public workshop to explore the use of most-favored-nation (MFN) clauses in business agreements.
MFN clauses guarantee a customer that it will receive prices that are at least as favorable as those provided to other buyers of the same seller, for the same products or services. While these clauses can sometimes be used for benign purposes, they can also present competitive concerns and facilitate collusion among sellers.
At the workshop, a series of panels will examine the legal treatment of MFNs, economic theories concerning their use, and industry experiences with these provisions.
Private attorneys, economists, and industry representatives will participate in the panels, which will include discussions on the harms and efficiencies of MFNs, as well as empirical evidence on their effects.
The Department of Justice and the FTC are interested in receiving comments on MFNs and will accept written submissions from the public before and after the workshop. Interested parties can submit comments to ATR.LPS-MFNPublicWorkshop@usdoj.gov, which will be made publicly available on the agencies’ websites.
The all-day workshop is free and open to the public, with seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
The event will take place at the FTC’s satellite conference center at 601 New Jersey Ave., NW, Washington, DC from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET on September 10, 2012.
Panelists for the workshop will include:
Jonathan Baker, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Judith A. Chevalier, William S. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Economics, Yale School of Management
Robert Majure, Economics Director of Enforcement, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Daniel O’Brien, Senior Economic Policy Advisor, Federal Trade Commission
Ramsey Shehadah, Senior Vice President, NERA Consulting
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