[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1737 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
1st Session
S. 1737
To amend the Clayton Act to enhance the authority of the Federal Trade
Commission or the Attorney General to prevent anticompetitive practices
in tightly concentrated gasoline markets.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 15, 2003
Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Clayton Act to enhance the authority of the Federal Trade
Commission or the Attorney General to prevent anticompetitive practices
in tightly concentrated gasoline markets.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Gasoline Free Market Competition Act
of 2003''.
SEC. 2. RESTRAINT OF TRADE.
The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) is amended by adding at the
end the following new section:
``SEC. 27. RESTRAINT OF TRADE REGARDING GASOLINE MARKET ANTICOMPETITIVE
PRACTICES.
``(a) In General.--It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in
commerce, in the course of such commerce, directly or indirectly--
``(1) to impose any condition, restriction, agreement, or
understanding between a refiner and distributor that limits or
prevents the distributor from supplying branded gasoline to
independent retailers in a highly concentrated market, unless
the limitation can be proven not to injure, destroy, or limit
competition;
``(2) if that person is a refiner, to sell the same brand
of gasoline to retailers owned or controlled by that refiner in
a highly concentrated market at different prices than the
refiner sells to its independent dealers, or to sell to
independent dealers in the same relevant geographic market at
different prices if those dealers are located in a highly
concentrated market; or
``(3) to engage in any other practice that the Commission
determines by regulation, after notice and opportunity for
public comment, would be likely to reduce supply or increase
the price of gasoline in a highly concentrated market.
``(b) Consumer Watch Zone.--
``(1) Notice.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this section, the Commission or the Attorney
General shall provide notice to each refiner, distributor, and
retailer doing business in a highly concentrated market that
the highly concentrated market is a consumer watch zone and
subject to the conditions of paragraph (2).
``(2) Conditions.--In a consumer watch zone the following
conditions shall apply to a refiner, distributor, or retailer:
``(A) Shift of burden of proof.--If the Commission
or the Attorney General makes a prima facie case of a
violation of subsection (a) against a refiner,
distributor, or retailer, the burden of proof of
proving a benefit to the consumers shall shift to the
refiner, distributor, or retailer. A refiner,
distributor, or retailer may rebut the prima facie case
by showing that the action that is the basis of the
alleged violation was taken to lower gasoline price in
a good faith effort to meet an equally low price of a
competitor.
``(B) Cease and desist.--The Commission or the
Attorney General may issue a cease and desist order
under this section for a violation of subsection (a).
``(c) Evaluation of Oil Merger.--In evaluating whether any
combination of refiners violates the antitrust laws, the Commission or
the Attorney General shall not approve any combination that would
create a highly concentrated market that would injure, destroy, or
limit competition.
``(d) Action by State Attorney General.--Any attorney general of a
State may bring a civil action in the name of such State in any
district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the
defendant to secure relief for a violation of subsection (a) or (b) as
provided in section 4C.
``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Highly concentrated market.--The term `highly
concentrated market' means a gasoline market where the 4
largest refiners control 70 percent or more of the gasoline
market in a relevant geographic market area.
``(2) Other terms.--The terms `distributor', `refiner',
`retailer', and `relevant geographic market area' have the same
meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Petroleum
Marketing Practices Act (15 U.S.C. 2801).''.
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