[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 190 (Thursday, October 1, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59152-59154]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-24874]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 141 0215]


National Association of Animal Breeders, Inc.; Analysis To Aid 
Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair methods of competition. 
The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the 
allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent order--
embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 26, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at http://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/NAABconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``National Association 
of Animal Breeders, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 141 0125'' on 
your comment and file your comment online at http://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/NAABconsent by following the 
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment 
on paper, write ``National Association of Animal Breeders, Inc.--
Consent Agreement; File No. 141 0125'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Armando Irizarry (202-326-2964) or 
Karen A. Mills (202-326-2052), Bureau of Competition, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for September 24, 2015), on the World Wide Web, 
at http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before October 26, 
2015. Write ``National Association of Animal Breeders, Inc.--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 141 0125'' on your comment. Your comment--including 
your name and your state--will be placed on the public record of this 
proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public 
Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a 
matter of discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home 
contact information from comments before placing them on the Commission 
Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.

[[Page 59153]]

    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at http://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/NAABconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. If 
this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may 
file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``National Association of 
Animal Breeders, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 141 0125'' on your 
comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, 
or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th 
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024. If 
possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or 
overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before October 26, 2015. You can find more 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in 
the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject 
to final approval, an Agreement Containing Consent Order (``Consent 
Agreement'') from the National Association of Animal Breeders, Inc. 
(hereinafter ``NAAB''). The Commission's complaint (``Complaint'') 
alleges that NAAB, acting as a combination of its members and in 
agreement with at least some of its members, restrained competition 
among its members and others in violation of Section 5 of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 45. NAAB restrained 
competition by adopting and maintaining provisions in its Code of 
Ethics that restrain its members from (1) naming competitors in printed 
materials that contain certain information about the competitors, and 
(2) disclosing or publicizing prices of bulls purchased or sold.
    Under the terms of the proposed Consent Agreement, NAAB is required 
to cease and desist from restraining its members from (1) naming 
members or other competitors when making statements comparing the 
products and services of a member with the products and services of any 
other member or competitor, and (2) publicizing or disclosing price 
information relating to the purchase or sale of animals.
    The Commission anticipates that the competitive issues described in 
the Complaint will be resolved by accepting the proposed order, subject 
to final approval, contained in the Consent Agreement. The proposed 
Consent Agreement has been placed on the public record for 30 days for 
receipt of comments from interested members of the public. Comments 
received during this period will become part of the public record. 
After 30 days, the Commission will review the Consent Agreement again 
and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw 
from the Consent Agreement or make final the accompanying Decision and 
Order (``the Proposed Order'').
    The purpose of this Analysis to Aid Public Comment is to invite and 
facilitate public comment. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the proposed Consent Agreement and the accompanying 
Proposed Order or in any way to modify their terms.
    The Consent Agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not 
constitute an admission by NAAB that the law has been violated as 
alleged in the Complaint or that the facts alleged in the Complaint, 
other than jurisdictional facts, are true.

I. The Complaint

    The Complaint makes the following allegations.

A. The Respondent

    NAAB is a non-profit corporation of animal breeders, with about 
twenty-four regular members, and about twenty-seven non-voting 
associate members. Many of NAAB's members are organizations in the 
business of collecting, processing, marketing and selling dairy and 
beef cattle semen for artificial insemination (``AI''). Members include 
small, family-owned breeding operations, cooperatives, and 
multinational corporations.

B. The Anticompetitive Conduct

    NAAB maintains a Code of Ethics applicable to the commercial 
activities of its members. NAAB's bylaws require that members comply 
with the Code of Ethics. NAAB maintains the following provisions in its 
Code of Ethics:
     ``Member competitors will not be named in printed material 
comparing averages between members.''
     ``The purchase price of sires, purchased at private 
treaty, by NAAB members shall not be disclosed by the Buyer, and the 
Seller shall be requested not to quote the selling price. Also, prices 
of bulls purchased at public auction by AI organizations shall not be 
quoted in their printed statements, advertising, and/or publicity 
material.''
    NAAB also established a process for receiving complaints about and 
resolving alleged violations of the Code of Ethics, including by 
allowing its members to resolve privately disputes arising out of the 
Code of Ethics, and also by establishing a mechanism by which NAAB may 
sanction violations of the Code of Ethics.
    The Complaint alleges that NAAB has violated Section 5 of the 
Federal Trade Commission Act by adopting and maintaining provisions in 
its Code of Ethics that restrain its members from (1) making 
advertisements comparing AI organizations, and (2) disclosing truthful 
and non-deceptive information. The Complaint alleges that the purpose, 
effects, tendency, or capacity of the combination, agreement, acts and 
practices of NAAB has been and is to restrain competition unreasonably 
and to injure consumers by discouraging and restricting competition 
among AI organizations, and by depriving consumers and others of the 
benefits of free and open competition among AI organizations.

II. The Proposed Order

    The Proposed Order has the following substantive provisions. 
Paragraph II

[[Page 59154]]

requires NAAB to cease and desist from restraining its members from (1) 
naming members or other competitors when making statements comparing 
the products and services of a member with the products and services of 
any other member or competitor, and (2) publicizing or disclosing price 
information relating to the purchase or sale of animals. The Proposed 
Order does not prohibit NAAB from adopting and enforcing reasonable 
restraints with respect to representations that NAAB reasonably 
believes would be false or deceptive within the meaning of Section 5 of 
the Federal Trade Commission Act.
    Paragraph III of the Proposed Order requires NAAB to remove from 
its Web site and organization documents any statement that does not 
comply with the Proposed Order, and to publish on the Web site any 
revision to the organization documents. NAAB must publish an 
announcement that it has changed its Code of Ethics, and a statement 
describing the Consent Agreement (``the Settlement Statement''). NAAB 
must distribute the Settlement Statement to NAAB's board of directors, 
officers, employees, and members. Paragraph III also requires NAAB to 
provide all new members and all members who receive a membership 
renewal notice with a copy of the Settlement Statement.
    Paragraph IV of the Proposed Order requires NAAB to design, 
maintain, and operate an antitrust compliance program. NAAB will have 
to appoint Antitrust Counsel for the duration of the Proposed Order. 
For a period of five years, NAAB will have to provide in-person annual 
training to its board of directors, officers, and employees, and 
conduct a presentation at its annual convention that summarizes NAAB's 
obligations under the Proposed Order and provides context-appropriate 
guidance on compliance with the antitrust laws. NAAB must also 
implement policies and procedures to enable persons to ask questions 
about, and report violations of, the Proposed Order and the antitrust 
laws confidentially and without fear of retaliation, and to discipline 
its board of directors, officers, employees, members, and agents for 
failure to comply with the Proposed Order.
    Paragraphs V-VII of the Proposed Order impose certain standard 
reporting and compliance requirements on NAAB.
    The Proposed Order will expire in 20 years.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-24874 Filed 9-30-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P