[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4518 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4518

 To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to provide a procedure for 
 the termination of Federal Trade Commission orders which have been in 
                     effect for at least 10 years.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 26, 1994

 Mr. Kopetski (for himself, Mr. Oxley, Mr. LaRocco, and Mr. Kreidler) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to provide a procedure for 
 the termination of Federal Trade Commission orders which have been in 
                     effect for at least 10 years.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``FTC Order Review Procedure Act of 
1994''.

SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF ORDERS.

    Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(n)(1) In January following the date of the enactment of this 
subsection, and in each January thereafter, the Commission shall 
publish in the Federal Register a list of all final Commission 
antitrust and consumer protection orders issued by the Commission 
that--
            ``(A) are in effect on the date on which the list is 
        published in the Federal Register, and
            ``(B) have been final orders of the Commission for a period 
        of 10 years or more on the date on which the list is published 
        in the Federal Register.
    ``(2)(A) Except for an order described in subparagraph (B) or an 
order which is not required to have a termination provision under 
paragraph (3), any order of the Commission which has been final for 
more than 10 years shall be set aside in response to a petition of the 
Commission for a proceeding under subsection (b) for the termination of 
the order unless the Commission determines, based upon a preponderance 
of the evidence, that the continuation of the market conditions giving 
rise to the order or the conduct of the person subject to the order 
following entry of the order require the order to remain in effect to 
achieve the original purpose of the order.
    ``(B) An order referred to in subparagraph (A) is an order which--
            ``(i) enjoins conduct subject to per se condemnation under 
        the Sherman Act or is issued to protect the public from 
        fraudulent conduct, or
            ``(ii) is based on a Commission finding based on a 
        preponderance of the evidence that there is a demonstrably high 
        probability that the kind of conduct which resulted in the 
        Commission issuing the order is likely to recur.
    ``(3) Any Commission order issued after the date of enactment of 
this subsection shall include a provision which terminates the order 10 
years after the date the order becomes final unless it is an order 
which--
            ``(A) enjoins conduct subject to per se condemnation under 
        the Sherman Act or is issued to protect the public from 
        fraudulent conduct, or
            ``(B) is based on a Commission finding based on a 
        preponderance of the evidence that there is a demonstrably high 
        probability that the kind of conduct which resulted in the 
        Commission issuing the order is likely to recur.
    ``(4) After the date of enactment of this subsection, any court 
ruling that enforces, amends, or supplements a Commission order that 
has been terminated pursuant to this subsection shall be vacated upon 
the filing of a petition in the relevant court which truthfully asserts 
that the related Commission order has been terminated and which 
requests that the court ruling be vacated.''.

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