[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1737 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  1st Session
                                S. 1737

To amend the Clayton Act to enhance the authority of the Federal Trade 
Commission or the Attorney General to prevent anticompetitive practices 
               in tightly concentrated gasoline markets.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 15, 2003

   Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Clayton Act to enhance the authority of the Federal Trade 
Commission or the Attorney General to prevent anticompetitive practices 
               in tightly concentrated gasoline markets.

    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 ``Gasoline Free Market Competition Act 
of 2003''.

SEC. 2. RESTRAINT OF TRADE.

    The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new section:

``SEC. 27. RESTRAINT OF TRADE REGARDING GASOLINE MARKET ANTICOMPETITIVE 
              PRACTICES.

    ``(a) In General.--It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in 
commerce, in the course of such commerce, directly or indirectly--
            ``(1) to impose any condition, restriction, agreement, or 
        understanding between a refiner and distributor that limits or 
        prevents the distributor from supplying branded gasoline to 
        independent retailers in a highly concentrated market, unless 
        the limitation can be proven not to injure, destroy, or limit 
        competition;
            ``(2) if that person is a refiner, to sell the same brand 
        of gasoline to retailers owned or controlled by that refiner in 
        a highly concentrated market at different prices than the 
        refiner sells to its independent dealers, or to sell to 
        independent dealers in the same relevant geographic market at 
        different prices if those dealers are located in a highly 
        concentrated market; or
            ``(3) to engage in any other practice that the Commission 
        determines by regulation, after notice and opportunity for 
        public comment, would be likely to reduce supply or increase 
        the price of gasoline in a highly concentrated market.
    ``(b) Consumer Watch Zone.--
            ``(1) Notice.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        enactment of this section, the Commission or the Attorney 
        General shall provide notice to each refiner, distributor, and 
        retailer doing business in a highly concentrated market that 
        the highly concentrated market is a consumer watch zone and 
        subject to the conditions of paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Conditions.--In a consumer watch zone the following 
        conditions shall apply to a refiner, distributor, or retailer:
                    ``(A) Shift of burden of proof.--If the Commission 
                or the Attorney General makes a prima facie case of a 
                violation of subsection (a) against a refiner, 
                distributor, or retailer, the burden of proof of 
                proving a benefit to the consumers shall shift to the 
                refiner, distributor, or retailer. A refiner, 
                distributor, or retailer may rebut the prima facie case 
                by showing that the action that is the basis of the 
                alleged violation was taken to lower gasoline price in 
                a good faith effort to meet an equally low price of a 
                competitor.
                    ``(B) Cease and desist.--The Commission or the 
                Attorney General may issue a cease and desist order 
                under this section for a violation of subsection (a).
    ``(c) Evaluation of Oil Merger.--In evaluating whether any 
combination of refiners violates the antitrust laws, the Commission or 
the Attorney General shall not approve any combination that would 
create a highly concentrated market that would injure, destroy, or 
limit competition.
    ``(d) Action by State Attorney General.--Any attorney general of a 
State may bring a civil action in the name of such State in any 
district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the 
defendant to secure relief for a violation of subsection (a) or (b) as 
provided in section 4C.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Highly concentrated market.--The term `highly 
        concentrated market' means a gasoline market where the 4 
        largest refiners control 70 percent or more of the gasoline 
        market in a relevant geographic market area.
            ``(2) Other terms.--The terms `distributor', `refiner', 
        `retailer', and `relevant geographic market area' have the same 
        meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Petroleum 
        Marketing Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 2801).''.
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