Professional Skaters Association, Inc.; Analysis To Aid Public Comment, 78870-78872 [2014-30649]

Agencies

• FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 250 (Wednesday, December 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78870-78872]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-30649]



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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 131 0168]


Professional Skaters Association, 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 January 22, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/FTC/proskatersconsent online or on paper, by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``the Professional 
Skaters Association, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File 131-0168'' on your 
comment and file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/FTC/proskatersconsent by following the 
instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment 
on paper, write ``the Professional Skaters Association, Inc.--Consent 
Agreement; File 131-0168'' on your comment and on the envelope, and 
mail it 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: Karen A. Mills, Bureau of Competition, 
(202-326-2052), 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 December 23, 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 January 22, 
2015. Write ``the Professional Skaters Association, Inc.--Consent 
Agreement; File 131-0168'' 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 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/proskatersconsent 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 ``the Professional Skaters 
Association, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File 131-0168'' 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 January 22, 2015. 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 Professional Skaters Association, Inc. 
(hereinafter ``PSA''). The Commission's complaint (``Complaint'') 
alleges that PSA, 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, by adopting and 
maintaining a provision in its Code of Ethics that restrains coaches 
from soliciting teaching work.
    Under the terms of the proposed Consent Agreement, PSA is required 
to cease and desist from restricting

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competition among its members, or working with other ice skating 
organizations to restrict competition, including by restricting 
solicitation, advertising, or price--related competition.
    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 PSA 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

    PSA is a non-profit trade association whose members include 
approximately 6400 coaches of ice skating who teach, train, and coach 
skaters at all levels--from beginners to elite skaters. Many PSAs 
members teach and coach skaters for a fee. Some PSA members are 
employed at schools, universities, ice skating clubs, and ice skating 
rinks. PSA membership provides financial benefits to its members.
    PSA membership and continuing education is required by the U.S. 
Figure Skating Association (``USFSA'') for coaches of skaters 
participating in: (i) USFSA qualifying competitions, and (ii) 
international ice skating competitions as part of Team USA. Because of 
this requirement, PSA membership is required in order to coach 
competitive skaters.
    Coaches require access to ice skating rink facilities. Some ice 
skating rink facilities require that coaches have PSA membership.
    PSA maintains a Code of Ethics applicable to the commercial 
activities of its members. The PSA Code of Ethics states that, ``No 
member shall in any case solicit pupils of another member, directly or 
indirectly, or through third parties.'' The PSA Code of Ethics also 
requires that, ``Prior to acting as a coach, the member shall determine 
the nature and extent of any earlier teaching relationship with that 
skater and other members.''

B. The Anticompetitive Conduct

    The Complaint alleges that PSA violated Section 5 of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act by restraining competition among coaches of ice 
skating through adoption and enforcement of the no-solicitation 
provision of PSA's Code of Ethics. This is in effect an agreement among 
competitors not to compete. PSA interprets the no-solicitation rule 
broadly, prohibiting direct, indirect, third-party, and social media 
solicitation of teaching work. PSA has instructed its members and 
others that the Code of Ethics no solicitation rule prohibits coaches 
from many types of direct or indirect communication with skaters and 
parents, including:

 Suggesting a skater change coaches
 Suggesting a skater would have better results by changing 
coaches
 Suggesting a skater who attends a seminar stay for a few days 
of additional training
 Sending recruiting material to a skater or parent
 Claiming one coach is a more qualified coach than another
 Claiming one ice skating program is better than another
 Offering free lessons, ice time, or equipment

    PSA requires its members to agree to abide by the Code of Ethics, 
educates members about the Code of Ethics, exhorts its members to 
follow the Code of Ethics and polices members' behavior. It also 
enforces the Code of Ethics through a grievance process administered by 
PSA's Committee on Professional Standards (the ``COPS''). PSA has 
enforced the Code of Ethics no-solicitation provision against at least 
nine member coaches since 2006, with penalties including private 
admonition, public admonition, suspended membership, and probation.
    PSA has sanctioned member coaches for soliciting students of other 
members even when the students and their parents wanted to switch 
coaches for a variety of compelling reasons. PSA has enlisted parents 
and skaters in the effort to enforce the Code of Ethics no-solicitation 
provision. The Complaint alleges that the purpose, effect, tendency, or 
capacity of the combination, agreement, acts and practices of PSA has 
been and is to restrain competition unreasonably and to injure 
consumers by discouraging and restricting competition among ice skating 
teachers and coaches.

II. The Proposed Order

    The Proposed Order has the following substantive provisions:
    Paragraph I contains definitions for terms used in the Order.
    Paragraph II requires PSA to cease and desist from restraining or 
declaring unethical, interfering with, or advising against the 
solicitation of teaching work. It also requires that PSA not prohibit 
or advise against coaches' solicitation of students. Paragraph II 
requires PSA to cease and desist from encouraging or assisting any 
other organization to adopt, maintain, or enforce any Code of Ethics or 
other restriction on solicitation. Finally, Paragraph II requires PSA 
to cease and desist from restraining price competition, including 
offering free lessons.
    The Proposed Order does not prohibit PSA from adopting and 
enforcing reasonable principles, rules, guidelines, or policies 
governing the conduct of its Members with respect to (i) 
representations that Respondent reasonably believes would be false or 
deceptive within the meaning of Section 5 of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act; (ii) prevention of sexual and physical abuse of 
children; or (iii) in-person solicitation of a skater actively engaged 
in (a) a skating lesson, or (b) skating or preparing to skate at an 
arena in a test, competition, or exhibition. The Order defines skating 
or preparing to skate as including meetings with coaches, locker room 
time, practice skating, and warm-up skating.
    Paragraph III of the Proposed Order requires PSA to remove from its 
organization documents and Web site any statement inconsistent with the 
Proposed Order PSA must publicize to its members, new members, leaders, 
employees, and the public the changes PSA must make to the Code of 
Ethics, and a statement describing the Consent Agreement. Finally, PSA 
must notify the Ice Skating Institute (``ISI'') and United States 
Figure Skating Association that PSA (i) agreed to change its Code of 
Ethics and (ii) will not enforce or investigate on behalf of Skating 
Organizations violation of any Code of Ethics or practice that does not 
comply with the FTC's Order against PSA.

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Further, the Order requires PSA to notify USFSA and ISI that the Order 
will prevent PSA from doing on behalf of USFSA or ISI anything that, if 
done by PSA, would be inconsistent with the Order against PSA. This is 
necessary because PSA provides various education services on ethics to 
both USFA and ISI coaches.
    Paragraph IV of the Proposed Order requires PSA to design, 
maintain, and operate an antitrust compliance program. PSA must have an 
Antitrust Compliance Officer for the duration of the Proposed Order. 
For a period of five years, PSA must provide guidance to its staff, 
employees, members, and leaders concerning the antitrust laws and PSA 
obligations under the Proposed Order. PSA also must 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 leaders, 
employees and agents for failure to comply with the Proposed Order.
    Paragraphs V-VII of the Proposed Order require certain standard 
compliance reporting, cooperation, and access.
    The Proposed Order will expire in the 20 years.

    By direction of the Commission.
Janice Podoll Frankle,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-30649 Filed 12-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P