Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS: FTC releases 2015 Annual Highlights, (Apr 6, 2016)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez released the Commission’s 2015 Annual Highlights today, reporting the agency’s efforts in protecting consumers and promoting competition over the course of the 2015 calendar year.

The FTC continued to actively promote competition in 2015, according to the Highlights, with 27 merger challenges and numerous anticompetitive conduct cases. In particular, the report noted that the Commission successfully blocked Sysco from acquiring US Foods, which preserved competition in the $231 billion foodservice industry; filed suit to block five other proposed mergers; obtained large monetary settlements in two health care sector conduct cases involving Cephalon and Cardinal Health; and received its third Supreme Court victory in three years in North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC.

The report also noted that the Commission filed amicus briefs in a range of cases, including actions involving prescription drug competition and debt collection. The Commission’s policy efforts also included a number of workshops, many of which focused on new and rapidly changing markets or technologies, including the sharing economy, cross-device tracking, and new developments in health care provider organization and payment models. In addition, the Commission continued efforts to strengthen enforcement cooperation and sound policy with the FTC’s international consumer protection and competition counterparts, the report stated.

The Commission reported that it obtained monetary judgments for redress and disgorgement totaling $2 billion, as well as civil penalties of $21.8 million. More than 844,000 consumers received redress totaling more than $22.3 million.

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