[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 23, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43800-43801]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-20904]



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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Dkt. 7611]


Independent News Company, Inc.; Prohibited Trade Practices and 
Affirmative Corrective Actions

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Set aside order.

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SUMMARY: This order reopens a 1960 consent order--which required the 
company to offer promotional allowances for its publications on 
proportionally equal terms to all customers--and sets aside the consent 
order as to respondent Warner Publisher Services, the successor of 
Independent News Company, pursuant to the Commission's Sunset Policy 
Statement, under which the Commission presumes that the public interest 
requires terminating competition orders that are more than 20 years 
old.

DATES: Consent order issued July 6, 1960. Set aside order issued June 
14, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Daniel Ducore, FTC/S-2115, Washington, DC. 20580. (202) 326-2526.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the Matter of Independent News Company, 
Inc. The prohibited trade practices and/or corrective actions are 
removed as indicated.

(Sec. 6, 38 Stat. 721; 15 U.S.C. 46. Interprets or applies sec. 2, 
49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13)

Order Reopening Proceeding and Setting Aside Order

Commissioners: Robert Pitofsky, Chairman, Mary L. Azcuenaga, Janet 
D. Steiger, Roscoe B. Starek, III, Christine A. Varney
    On February 16, 1995, Warner Publisher Services, Inc. (``WPS''), as 
respondent and successor of Independent News Company, Inc.,\1\ filed a 
Petition to Reopen and Set Aside Consent Order (``Petition''), in this 
matter. WPS requests that the Commission set aside the 1960 consent 
order in this matter pursuant to section 5(b) of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(b), Rule 2.51 of the Commission's rules of 
practice, 16 CFR 2.51, and the Statement of Policy With Respect to 
Duration of Competition Orders and Statement of Intention to Solicit 
Public Comment With Respect to Duration of Consumer Protection Orders, 
issued on July 22, 1994, and published at 59 FR 45,286-92 (Sept. 1, 
1994) (``Sunset Policy Statement''). In its Petition, WPS affirmatively 
states that it has not engaged in any conduct violating the terms of 
the order. The Petition was placed on the public record, and the 
thirty-day comment period expired on March 27, 1995. No comments where 
received.

    \1\ Since the Commission issued the order in this matter, 
Independent has changed its name to Warner Publisher Services, Inc. 
and is now owned by Warner Communications Inc. The other respondent 
in this matter, The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., 
did not petition to have the order set aside as to it.
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    The Commission in its Sunset Policy Statement said, in relevant 
part, that ``effective immediately, the Commission 

[[Page 43801]]
will presume, in the context of petitions to reopen and modify existing 
orders, that the public interest requires setting aside orders in 
effect for more than twenty years.'' \2\ The Commission's consent order 
in Docket No. 7611 was issued on July 6, 1960, and has been in effect 
for more than twenty years. Consistent with the Commission's Sunset 
Policy Statement, the presumption is that the order should be 
terminated. Nothing to overcome the presumption having been presented, 
the Commission has determined to reopen the proceeding and set aside 
the order in Docket No. 7611 as to WPS.

    \2\ See Sunset Policy Statement, 59 Fed. Reg. at 45,289.
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    Accordingly, it is ordered that this matter be, and it hereby is, 
reopened;
    It is further ordered that the Commission's order in Docket No. 
7611 be, and it hereby is, set aside as to respondent Warner Publisher 
Services, Inc., as of the effective date of this order.

    By the Commission.
Benjamin I. Berman,
Acting Secretary.
Concurring Statement of Commissioner Mary L. Azcuenaga in Independent 
News Company, Inc., Docket No. 7611

    I concur in the decision to grant the request of Warner Publisher 
Services, Inc., the successor of Independent News Company, Inc., to set 
aside the 1960 order in this case. I dissent from the decision to limit 
the setting aside of the order to Warner, instead of setting aside the 
order in its entirety.
    The decision to limit relief to Warner, one of the two respondents 
under the order, appears to be inconsistent with the Commission's 
announced policy to presume ``that the public interest requires 
reopening and setting aside the order in its entirety'' (emphasis 
added) ``when a petition to reopen and modify a competition order is 
filed'' and the order is more than twenty years old.\1\ The 
Commission's recognition of the limitations of the findings underlying 
an order \2\ further suggests that the presumption that an order will 
be terminated after twenty years should apply to the order in its 
entirety and not be limited to the petitioner.\3\

    \1\ FTC, Statement of Policy with Respect to Duration of 
Competition Orders and Statement of Intention To Solicit Public 
Comment with Respect to Duration of Consumer Protection Orders (July 
22, 1994), at 8 (hereafter ``Sunset Policy Statement'').
    \2\ ``[F]indings upon which [orders] are based should not be 
presumed to continue'' for longer than twenty years. Sunset Policy 
Statement at 4.
    \3\ The presumption of termination after 20 years applies 
automatically for new orders in competition cases and is not limited 
to individual respondents, further supporting the view that the 
twenty-year presumption in favor of sunset for existing orders 
should apply to the order, not to particular respondents.
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    I previously have expressed my concern that the adoption of a 
presumption instead of an across-the-board rule in favor of sunset 
``will impose costs by requiring respondents to file individual 
petitions and the Commission to assess in the context of each such 
petition whether the presumption has been overcome for that order.'' 
\4\ Now the Commission would further increase the burden on both public 
and private resources by applying the presumption in favor of sunset 
not only on a case-by-case basis but on a respondent-by-respondent 
basis.

    \4\ Separate Statement of Commissioner Mary L. Azcuenaga on 
Sunset Policy (July 22, 1994), at 7 (footnote omitted).
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    The petition filed by Warner invoked the twenty-year presumption 
that the order should be set aside. No evidence of recidivist conduct 
by any respondent, including The New American Library of World 
Literature, Inc., having been presented to overcome the presumption,\5\ 
the order should be set aside in its entirety.

    \5\ See Sunset Policy Statement at 8 n.19.
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[FR Doc. 95-20904 Filed 8-22-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M