The FTC takes action to stop and prevent unfair business practices that are likely to reduce competition and lead to higher prices, reduced quality or levels of service, or less innovation. Anticompetitive practices include activities like price fixing, group boycotts, and exclusionary exclusive dealing contracts or trade association rules, and are generally grouped into two types:
- agreements between competitors, also referred to as horizontal conduct
- monopolization, also referred to as single firm conduct
The FTC generally pursues anticompetitive conduct as violations of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans “unfair methods of competition” and “unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”
Search Cases
Use our Advanced Search page to find a specific antitrust case. To see all antitrust cases, select “Competition” in the mission field. To see a specific type of competition case, select from the list of available topics in the competition topics field.
Competition Statutes
The primary statutes governing the FTC’s competition mission include:
Guidelines
Competition Advisory Opinions
The FTC provides guidance concerning proposed conduct in the form of advisory opinions. The process starts with a request for advice from the party proposing the conduct. Many advisory opinions are rendered by Bureau of Competition staff, and often involve issues in the health care field. Commission advisory opinions are voted on by the Commission and are intended to address substantial or novel questions of fact or law, or subjects of significant interest.
FTC staff provides practical guidance for those who may want to request an advisory opinion. You also can review all previous advisory opinions, and filter them using the “Antitrust/Competition” tag.
Source: Federal Trade Commission