Office of Competition Advocate

(a) Definitions In this section— (1) the term agency has the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code; (2) the term Chair means the Chair of the Commission; (3) the term Commission means the Federal Trade Commission; (4) the term covered company means any company that has, at any time, been required to make a filing under section 7A of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18a); and (5) the term Office means the Office of the Competition Advocate established under subsection (b). (b) Establishment There is established within the Federal Trade Commission the Office of the Competition Advocate. (c) Competition Advocate (1) In general The head of the Office shall be the Competition Advocate, who shall— (A) report directly to, and be under the supervision of, the Chair, but the Chair shall not prevent or prohibit the Competition Advocate from initiating, carrying out, or completing any of its duties under this section; (B) be appointed by the Chair with the approval of the Commission, including at least 1 Commissioner who is not a member of the same political party as the Chair, from among individuals having experience in advocating for the promotion of competition; and (C) serve a term of 7 years and shall not be removable except upon a unanimous vote of the Commission. (2) Compensation The annual rate of pay for the Competition Advocate shall be equal to the highest rate of annual pay for other senior executives who report to the Chair of the Commission. (3) Limitation on service An individual who serves as the Competition Advocate may not be employed by the Commission— (A) during the 2-year period ending on the date of appointment as Competition Advocate; and (B) during the 5-year period beginning on the date on which the person ceases to serve as the Competition Advocate. (d) Staff of Office The Commission shall allocate funds from the Commission budget to the Office of the Competition Advocate sufficient for the Competition Advocate to retain or employ such counsel, research staff, and service staff necessary to carry out the functions, powers, and duties of the Office. (e) Duties and powers The Competition Advocate shall— (1) recommend processes or procedures that will allow the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice to improve the ability of each agency to solicit reports from consumers, small businesses, and workers about possible anticompetitive practices or adverse effects of concentration; (2) provide recommendations to other agencies about agency actions that may have anticompetitive effects and the potential harm to competition; (3) provide recommendations to other agencies about agency actions that may have procompetitive effects and the potential benefit to competition; (4) publish periodic reports on— (A) the effects of remedies required by the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission in consent decrees; (B) the effects of law enforcement actions, whether successful or not, including settlements, preliminary injunctions, court-mandated remedies, or any other remedy imposed by a court or agreed to by the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission; (C) the effects of a decision by the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission to allow any merger or transaction to move forward without a consent decree or bringing a law enforcement action; (D) the effects of decisions and opinions issues by State and Federal courts related to the antitrust laws on competition and the future enforcement of the antitrust laws; and (E) the effects of other agency actions, including rulemakings, on competition; (5) provide recommendations to the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice about the effectiveness of policy statements, guidelines, or practices to improve the enforcement of the antitrust laws; (6) report any evidence the Competition Advocate obtains that any person, partnership, or corporation has engaged in transactions or conduct that may constitute of a violation of the antitrust laws, or any settlement, agreement, or consent decree related to a potential violation of the antitrust laws, to the Commission, which may institute further investigation, initiate enforcement proceedings, or refer such evidence to the Attorney General; (7) request such information or assistance as may be necessary for carrying out the duties and powers described in this subsection from any agency or unit thereof, including the Commission. The head of any agency shall, insofar as is practicable and not in contravention of any existing statutory restriction or regulation of the agency from which the information is requested, furnish to the Competition Advocate such information or assistance; (8) have discretion to decide whether to release the recommendations of the Competition Advocate publicly; (9) have access to all information and data collected and retained by the Office of Market Analysis and Data; and (10) submit all recommendations or reports to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. (f) Subpoena authority (1) In general The Competition Advocate may either accept voluntary submissions of periodic and other reports from any covered company, or compel the production of such a report by subpoena for the purpose of carrying out its duties and powers in subsection (e). (2) Independent subpoena authority Upon a finding that a covered company will not submit, or has not submitted, a sufficient report voluntarily, the Competition Advocate may, under its own independent authority, and notwithstanding any jurisdictional limitations in the Federal Trade Commission Act applicable to the Commission’s investigative authority, compel the submission of a periodic or other reports from any covered company by issuing a subpoena. (3) Enforcement The Competition Advocate shall have independent authority to bring an action in any appropriate Federal court to enforce any subpoena issued under this subsection. (4) Written finding Before issuing a subpoena to collect the information described in paragraph (1), the Competition Advocate shall make a written finding that— (A) the data is required to carry out the functions of the Competition Advocate; and (B) the information is not available from a public source, from the covered company on a voluntary basis, or another agency. (5) Mitigation of report burden Before requiring the submission of a report from any covered company, the Competition Advocate shall— (A) coordinate with other agencies or authority; and (B) whenever possible, rely on information available from such agencies or authority. (6) Confidentiality Information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Competition Advocate shall be subject to the same confidentiality requirements and protection applicable to information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Commission.