Announced Actions for December 13, 2005

Request for approval of consent order modifications: The Commission has received a request for approval of proposed modifications to a supply agreement required by a 1999 consent order with The Associated Octel Company, Ltd. (Associated Octel), which concerns its acquisition of Oboadler Company Limited. In its application, which can be found on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release, Associated Octel has made several changes to the Price and Payment provision of an agreement to supply AllChem Industries, Inc. (AllChem) with Tetra Ethyl Lead Additives for 15 years, and is now seeking retroactive Commission approval for those changes.

The Commission is accepting public comments on the proposed modifications for 30 days, until January 10, 2005, after which it will decide whether to approve them. (FTC Docket No.
C-3913; the staff contact is Jeff Dahnke, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2111; see press release dated September 7, 1999.)

Commission approval of Federal Register notice: The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice regarding the ceiling on allowable charges for certain disclosures under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). As detailed in the notice, which will be published shortly and is available now on the FTC’s Web site, the ceiling on allowable charges for certain disclosures under the FCRA, Section 612(f)(1)(A), will increase from $9.50 to $10.00 in 2006. This section of the Act provides that, in those cases where the FCRA does not require the disclosure to be made without charge, a consumer reporting agency may charge a reasonable amount for making a disclosure to the consumer, provided the charge does not exceed a statutory maximum and is indicated to the consumer before the disclosure is made. The Act provides that the charge may not exceed $8.00, adjusted annually for inflation, with fractional changes rounded to the nearest 50 cents.

This charge will not apply to consumers’ requests for free annual disclosures under the provisions of Section 211(a) of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). The charge will, however, apply where a consumer orders a file disclosure directly from one of the three major nationwide consumer reporting agencies because the consumer has already received a free annual disclosure and does not otherwise qualify for an additional free disclosure. The Commission vote to publish the notice in the Federal Register was 4-0. (File No. P974805; staff contact is Keith B. Anderson, Bureau of Economics, 202-326-3428.)