1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebar The FTCs Competition Rulemaking Authority August 12, 2021 In the 1960s, small apparel retailers had a problem. Apparel suppliers were granting more generous advertising allowances to large retailers, inhibit
2、ing small retailers ability to compete. This practice violated the Robinson-Patman Acts prohibition of price discrimination, so the Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) issued cease-and-desist orders directing more than 300 clothing manufacturers to stop offering discriminatory allowances. H
3、owever, the Commission did not stop there. After concluding that case-by-case enforcement faced limitations, the FTC issued a rule requiring manufacturers of mens apparel to adopt written plans governing any promotional allowances they offered to retailers. (The Commission determined that Robinson-P
4、atman violations were more likely when manufacturers lacked written plans, and that such plans would help manufacturers resist requests for discriminatory allowances.) The rule did not last. In 1994, the FTC repealed it, noting that it had never been enforced and that no industry participants had ad
