Is the Robinson-Patman Act alive and well?

For the past 20 years, the government has failed to enforce the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a Depression-era law that prohibits price discrimination and is virtually non-existent. In 1977, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would no longer enforce RPA, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has not brought RPA cases since 2000. While private plaintiffs do bring occasional RPA claims, they are rare and encountered with reluctance on the part of most courts and often appealed. Many economists harshly criticize South Africa as anti-competitive, and in 2007, the Commission on Antitrust Modernization recommended that Congress repeal the statute altogether because it “appears to be contrary to fundamental principles of antitrust law” and “punishes the very reductions in prices and innovations in distribution methods that would otherwise If so, antitrust laws should convince.”

Given the above, companies may not have focused on RPA compliance as a key element of their antitrust compliance program, but perhaps they should reconsider this approach in light of recent events that suggest RPA is still alive and may soon benefit from popularity.

Renewed interest in South Africa