National Association of Residential Property Managers, Inc.; Analysis To Aid Public Comment, 52006-52008 [2014-20776]

Agencies

• FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 2, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52006-52008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-20776]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 141 0031]


National Association of Residential Property Managers, Inc.; 
Analysis To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair methods of competition. 
The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the 
allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent order--
embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 22, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/narpmconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``National Association 
of Residential Property Managers, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 141 
0031'' on your comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/narpmconsent by following the 
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment 
on paper, mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Armando Irizarry, Bureau of 
Competition, (202-326-2964), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, 
DC 20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been 
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for August 22, 2014), on the World Wide Web, at 
https://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before September 22, 
2014. Write ``National Association of Residential Property Managers, 
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 141 0031'' on your comment. Your 
comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the 
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, 
on the public Commission Web site, at https://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to 
remove individuals' home contact

[[Page 52007]]

information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web 
site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/narpmconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. 
If this Notice appears at https://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also 
may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``National Association of 
Residential Property Managers, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 141 
0031'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to 
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the 
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), 
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 
400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by 
courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at https://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before September 22, 2014. You can find more 
information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in 
the Commission's privacy policy, at https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject 
to final approval, an Agreement Containing Consent Order (``Consent 
Agreement'') from the National Association of Residential Property 
Managers, Inc. (hereinafter ``NARPM''). The Commission's complaint 
(``Complaint'') alleges that NARPM, acting as a combination of its 
members and in agreement with at least some of its members, restrained 
competition among its members and others in violation of Section 5 of 
the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 45. NARPM 
restrained competition by adopting and maintaining provisions in its 
Code of Ethics that restrain its members from (1) soliciting the 
customers of competing property managers, and (2) making statements 
about competing property managers that are neither false nor deceptive.
    Under the terms of the proposed Consent Agreement, NARPM is 
required to cease and desist from restricting its members from 
soliciting customers or from making statements about competitors' 
products, services, or business or commercial practices that are not 
false or deceptive.
    The Commission anticipates that the competitive issues described in 
the Complaint will be resolved by accepting the proposed order, subject 
to final approval, contained in the Consent Agreement. The proposed 
Consent Agreement has been placed on the public record for 30 days for 
receipt of comments from interested members of the public. Comments 
received during this period will become part of the public record. 
After 30 days, the Commission will review the Consent Agreement again 
and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw 
from the Consent Agreement or make final the accompanying Decision and 
Order (``the Proposed Order'').
    The purpose of this Analysis to Aid Public Comment is to invite and 
facilitate public comment. It is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the proposed Consent Agreement and the accompanying 
Proposed Order or in any way to modify their terms.
    The Consent Agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not 
constitute an admission by NARPM that the law has been violated as 
alleged in the Complaint or that the facts alleged in the Complaint, 
other than jurisdictional facts, are true.

I. The Complaint

    The Complaint makes the following allegations.

A. The Respondent

    NARPM is a non-profit professional corporation of real estate 
agents, brokers, managers and their employees, with over 4,000 members. 
NARPM's members are in the business of managing single-family and 
multi-family residential properties, condominiums, townhouses, and 
short-term rentals. Some members also manage commercial and industrial 
properties and homeowners associations.

B. The Anticompetitive Conduct

    NARPM maintains a Code of Ethics applicable to the commercial 
activities of its members. NARPM's members agree to abide by the Code 
of Ethics as a condition of membership. NARPM maintains the following 
provisions in its Code of Ethics:
     ``The Property Manager shall not knowingly solicit 
competitor's clients.''
     ``NARPM Professional Members shall refrain from 
criticizing other property managers or their business practices.''
    NARPM also established a process for receiving complaints about and 
resolving alleged violations of the Code of Ethics. NARPM may sanction 
members found to violate the Code of Ethics. Sanctions may include a 
letter of reprimand, probation or suspension for a specified term, or 
expulsion from NARPM.

[[Page 52008]]

    The Complaint alleges that NARPM has violated Section 5 of the 
Federal Trade Commission Act by adopting and maintaining provisions in 
its Code of Ethics that restrain its members from (1) soliciting the 
customers of competing property managers, and (2) making statements 
that are not false or deceptive about competing property managers. The 
Complaint alleges that the purpose, effects, tendency, or capacity of 
the combination, agreement, acts and practices of NARPM has been and is 
to restrain competition unreasonably and to injure consumers by 
discouraging and restricting competition among property managers, and 
by depriving consumers and others of the benefits of free and open 
competition among property managers.

II. The Proposed Order

    The Proposed Order has the following substantive provisions. 
Paragraph II requires NARPM to cease and desist from restraining its 
members from soliciting property management work, or from making 
statements about competitors' products, services, or business or 
commercial practices that are not false or deceptive. The Proposed 
Order does not prohibit NARPM from adopting and enforcing reasonable 
restraints with respect to representations that NARPM reasonably 
believes would be false or deceptive within the meaning of Section 5 of 
the Federal Trade Commission Act.
    Paragraph III of the Proposed Order requires NARPM to remove from 
its Web site and organization documents any statement that does not 
comply with the Proposed Order, and to publish on the Web site any 
revision to the organization documents. NARPM must publish an 
announcement that it has changed its Code of Ethics, and a statement 
describing the Consent Agreement (``the Settlement Statement''). NARPM 
must publish the aforementioned documents in NARPM's news magazine. 
NARPM must distribute the Settlement Statement to NARPM's board of 
directors, officers, employees, and members. NARPM must publish in all 
ethics courses designed or offered by NARPM that discuss the provisions 
at issue a statement that restrictions on solicitation or advertising 
no longer apply. Paragraph III also requires NARPM to provide all new 
members and all members who receive a membership renewal notice with a 
copy of the Settlement Statement.
    Paragraph IV of the Proposed Order requires NARPM to design, 
maintain, and operate an antitrust compliance program. NARPM will have 
to appoint an Antitrust Compliance Officer for the duration of the 
Proposed Order. For a period of five years, NARPM will have to provide 
in-person annual training to its board of directors, officers, and 
employees, and conduct a presentation at its annual convention, 
regional conferences, and each code of ethics training session, that 
summarizes NARPM's obligations under the Proposed Order and provides 
context-appropriate guidance on compliance with the antitrust laws. 
NARPM must also implement policies and procedures to enable persons to 
ask questions about, and report violations of, the Proposed Order and 
the antitrust laws confidentially and without fear of retaliation, and 
to discipline its board of directors, officers, employees, members, and 
agents for failure to comply with the Proposed Order.
    Paragraphs V-VII of the Proposed Order impose certain standard 
reporting and compliance requirements on NARPM.
    The Proposed Order will expire in 20 years.

    By direction of the Commission.
Janice Podoll Frankle,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-20776 Filed 8-29-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P