IP: FTC Seeks Email Comments on Staples Deal from Agency Home

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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Info-Policy-Notes - A newsletter available from listproc () tap org
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INFORMATION POLICY NOTES
March 14, 1997


 
      FTC Seeks Email Comments on Staples Deal!
      Action breaks with agency tradition


For the first time ever, the Federal Trade Commission decided today to
solicit consumer views via the Internet on a pending merger.  On Friday
morning, the FTC put a page on its own web site (www.ftc.gov), asking for
public comments on the pending Staples/Office Depot merger.  According to
the Notice, the email comments will not be considered confidential, and
therefore may be subject to public inspection (proceedures for submission
of confidential information are given on the FTC web page).  Comments to
the FTC can be sent by electronic mail to ftc-staples () ftc gov, or by
clicking a mailto command at: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/comment.htm


The FTC action has taken many Wall Street analysts and financial
journalists by surprise, after a flurry of news reports that the FTC had
reached a deal with Staples on the Staples-Office Depot merger, following
a divestiture of 63 stores.  CPT has opposed the merger, and yesterday
told the FTC that the proposed divestiture of 6 percent of the
Staples/Office Depot stores does not protect consumers. 
(http://www.essential.org/antitrust/march13.html)


The FTC's decision to solicit consumer comments on the merger breaks with
longstanding agency tradition, where comments are only solicted via a
Federal Register Notice AFTER a consent order has been approved by the
FTC.  In this case, the FTC is seeking input BEFORE it decides whether or
not to make a deal with Staples. The decision to use the FTC Web page and
electronic mail to solicit comments on the Staples/Office Depot merger was
made by FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky and William Baer, the Director of the
FTC Bureau of Competition.


Today's FTC's action followed a March 5, 1997, letter sent to the FTC
requesting such action.  The March 5, 1997, letter was signed by CPT, EFF,
EPIC, CPSR, NetAction, and nearly 100 college professors, small
businesses, citizen groups and individual consumers and taxpayers.  (See: 
http://www.essential.org/antitrust/march51997.html) 


   James Love (love () tap org, 202.387.8030)
   http://www.essential.org/cpt


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