78870 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 31, 2014 / Notices 

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). 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

[File No. 131 0168] 

Professional Skaters Association, Inc.; 

Analysis To Aid Public Comment 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement. 

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 http://

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 http://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. 

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 http://

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 

http://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 

http://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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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 31, 2014 / Notices 78871 

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 nosolicitation 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 nosolicitation 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 warmup 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. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

78872 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 250 / Wednesday, December 31, 2014 / Notices 

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). 

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 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

[File No. 141 0142] 

Eli Lilly and Company and Novartis 

AG; Analysis of Proposed Consent 

Orders To Aid Public Comment 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement. 

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 orders— 

embodied in the consent agreement— 

that would settle these allegations. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before January 21, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a 

comment at https://

ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/

elilillyconsent online or on paper, by 

following the instructions in the 

Request for Comment part of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

below. Write ‘‘Eli Lilly and Company 

and Novartis A.G.—Consent Agreement; 

File No. 141–0142’’ on your comment 

and file your comment online at 

https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/

ftc/elilillyconsent by following the 

instructions on the web-based form. If 

you prefer to file your comment on 

paper, write ‘‘Eli Lilly and Company 

and Novartis A.G.—Consent Agreement; 

File No. 141–0142’’ 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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Barnett, Bureau of Competition, 

(202–326–2362), 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 

orders 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 22, 2014), on 

the World Wide Web, at http://

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 21, 2015. Write ‘‘Eli Lilly 

and Company and Novartis A.G.— 

Consent Agreement; File No. 141–0142’’ 

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 http://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. 

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/

elilillyconsent by following the 

instructions on the web-based form. If 

this Notice appears at http://

www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also 

may file a comment through that Web 

site. 

If you file your comment on paper, 

write ‘‘Eli Lilly and Company and 

Novartis A.G.—Consent Agreement; File 

No. 141–0142’’ 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 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES