[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17177-17179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7784]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Public Workshop: Emerging Issues for Competition Policy in the 
World of E-Commerce

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice announcing workshop.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') will 
hold a public workshop on May 7 and 8, 2001, to examine selected 
competition policy issues that arise in connection with business-to-
business (``B2B'') and business-to-consumer (``B2C'') electronic 
commerce. Interested parties are invited to attend or to submit written 
presentations.

DATES: The workshop will be held on May 7 and 8, 2001. It will be open 
to the public, without fee, and advance registration is not required. 
Seats in the workshop room will be available on a first-come, first-
served basis; some overflow seating will be available. Written 
presentations may be submitted through May 21, 2001.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held in Room 432 of the Federal Trade 
Commission Headquarters Building, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC. Any interested person may submit a written presentation 
that will be considered part of the public record of the workshop. 
Written presentations should be submitted in both hard copy and 
electronic form. Six hard copies of each submission should be addressed 
to Donald S. Clark, Office of the Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. Submissions should 
be captioned ``Comments regarding E-Commerce Antitrust Issues.'' 
Electronic submissions may be sent by electronic mail to 
[email protected]. Alternatively, electronic submission may be filed on 
a 3\1/2\ inch computer disk with a label on the disk stating the name 
of the submitter and the name and version of the word processing 
program used to create the document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain information about the 
workshop, please contact Gail Levine, Assistant Director for Policy 
Planning, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20580, telephone (202) 326-3193, e-mail [email protected]. 
A detailed agenda and additional information relating to the workshop 
will be posted on the Commission's web site, www.ftc.gov/opp/ecommerce, 
in advance of the workshop.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Overview

    In June 2000, the FTC held a public workshop on B2Bs entitled 
``Competition Policy in the World of B2B Electronic Marketplaces.''In 
October 2000, FTC staff issued a report,

[[Page 17178]]

available at www.ftc.gov/bc/b2b/index.htm, that summarized the workshop 
and laid the foundation for understanding how to answer traditional 
antitrust questions in the context of new B2B technology.
    The May 2001 workshop will build upon and extend that foundation. 
It will be divided into two sessions. The May 7 session will invite 
antitrust practitioners, economists, and business representatives to 
examine B2B mergers, interoperability, and operating rules against the 
background of specific hypotheticals. The goal is to elicit more detail 
about varying approaches to competition issues that may be raised by 
B2Bs and to analyze certain issues not addressed at the June 2000 
workshop. Among other things, the hypotheticals will invite discussion 
of competitive effects of mergers and acquisitions among B2Bs and 
exchange-to-exchange interoperability. The hypotheticals will be 
available at www.ftc.gov/opp/ecommerce before the workshop.
    The May 8 session redirects the focus to selected competition 
issues that are beginning to emerge in B2C contexts. Rather than 
debating familiar, long-standing issues, the session will focus on new 
fact patterns and selected competition policy issues that may arise in 
distribution and marketing over the Internet, in conjunction with or in 
comparison to offline commerce. It will explore such issues as price 
and promotional coordination between online and offline distribution 
channels, sole online distributorships, exclusive dealing over the 
Internet, and the role of information-collection technologies in online 
distribution. The goals will be to gain a better understanding of 
online distribution and marketing competition and to begin to develop a 
framework for assessing antitrust issues arising in those contexts.
    A transcript of the discussions at the workshop will be publicly 
available after the workshop at www.ftc.gov/opp/ecommerce.

Specific Questions To Be Addressed

May 7 Session: B2B Mergers, Interoperability, and Operating Rules

    The hypotheticals will raise competition issues involving B2Bs, 
including the following:

Mergers

    What is the relevant market for purposes of analyzing the effects 
of a merger of B2Bs on competition in offering marketplace services? 
The market for online marketplaces? The market for marketplaces, 
whether online or offline? Another market? What facts are needed to 
address these questions?
    Who are participants in the relevant market? Is entry likely? What 
facts are needed to address these questions?
    What are likely adverse competitive effects of a merger of B2Bs in 
the market for marketplaces? In the market(s) for goods traded on B2Bs 
(or for the goods derived from them)? What facts are needed to address 
these questions?
    What efficiencies are likely to be accomplished with a merger of 
B2Bs? Are the supply-side or demand-side scale economies to be gained 
through such a merger? Are these merger-specific efficiencies, or are 
there practical alternatives, in the business situation faced by the 
merging B2Bs, that could mitigate competitive concerns? What facts are 
needed to address these questions?
    How, if at all, do the financial pressures faced by B2Bs today 
effect the analysis? What additional facts are needed to address this 
issue?

Interoperability

    How does interoperability among B2Bs work, as a practical matter? 
Do interoperable B2Bs share fees or other resources?
    What factors are relevant to ascertaining the likely effect of an 
interoperability agreement on the ability and incentive of B2Bs to 
compete? How does an interoperability agreement affect incentives to 
lower price, increase quality and service, and innovate?
    What are the procompetitive benefits of interoperability 
agreements? What factors are relevant to this analysis?

Operating Practices

    What B2B information-sharing practices may facilitate collusion? 
What safeguards could--or should--be erected to avoid such collusion. 
Which safeguards are most effective? Are there practical problems with 
implementation of certain safeguards? Do some types of safeguards 
interfere with the achievement of efficiencies? If so, why and in what 
circumstances? What are reasonable audit mechanisms for ensuring that 
safeguards are actually working?
    How can efficient joint purchasing be distinguished from the 
improper exercise of monopsony power in a B2B? What factors are 
relevant to this analysis?
    What B2B practices have the potential to harm competition by 
excluding competitors? What are the countervailing efficiencies of such 
parties?

May 8 Session: Online Distribution and Marketing

    What are the benefits of online distribution and marketing 
(``online distribution'') to manufacturers and traditional offline 
retailers? What are the costs of setting up an online distribution 
system? What problems do moderately-sized manufacturers or retailers 
face in developing online distribution systems?
    How have relationships been structured between manufacturers or 
offline retailers, on the one hand, and online distributors, on the 
other? What factors determine whether the online distributor is fully 
or partially owned by a manufacturer or offline retailer? What factors 
determine whether an online distributor is set up as competitor 
collaboration? What factors affect whether the online distributor is 
established as a principal or agent?
    How have online distributors and the manufacturers they serve 
coordinated their marketing efforts? How have offline distributors and 
their associated, online counterparts coordinated their marketing 
activities? Under what circumstances have they coordinated pricing, 
advertising, or advertised pricing? Under what circumstances have they 
allocated business opportunities? What are the justifications for 
coordination? What are the relevant competition issues? How should dual 
distribution in these contexts be assessed?
    Under what circumstances have manufacturers prohibited online 
distribution of their products or confined it to specific web-sites? 
What are the business justifications? How have the limitations been 
enforced? What are the relevant competition issues?
    Under what circumstances have manufacturers contracted with 
Internet service providers or search engines for exclusive or 
preferential treatment of a manufacturer's products? Under what 
circumstances have manufacturers contracted with online retailers for 
exclusive or preferential treatment of a manufacturer's products? What 
are the efficiencies associated with such practices? What factors are 
relevant to determining whether such exclusive or preferential 
arrangements are likely to cause anticompetitive harm? How do 
efficiencies and other factors differ between online and offline 
distribution?
    What steps have offline distributors taken in opposing online 
distribution? Have joint activities been involved? What is the role of 
state law? What are the relevant competition issues?
    To what extent are shopbots or other information-collection 
technologies

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used to gather data from online distribution systems? What are the 
likely benefits of such technologies? Have on-line distributors limited 
access such technologies to their data? How? What are the business 
justifications for such limitations? What are the relevant competition 
issues?
    The Commission welcomes suggestions for other questions that also 
should be addressed. Proposed questions, identified as such, may be 
sent by electronic mail to [email protected].

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-7784 Filed 3-28-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-M