Announced Actions for December 6, 1996

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following actions.

Applications for approval of transactions: The FTC has received an application for approval for a transaction from the following. The FTC is seeking public comments on the application for 30 days, until Jan 6, 1997.

• Hoechst Marion Roussell, Inc., of Kansas City, Missouri, has applied for FTC approval to divest the Mesalamine assets of Copley Pharmaceutical Inc., a company in which Hoechst holds a majority interest, to Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., of Sellersville, Pennsylvania. Mesalamine is an oral-dosage drug used to treat inflammatory bowel disease. Teva is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd., a pharmaceutical company based in Israel. Divestiture of this and two other drugs is required under a December 1995 consent order designed to restore competition following the Hoechst Corporation’s acquisition of Marion Merrell Dow Inc. (See Sept. 18, 1995 news release regarding the consent order; Docket No. C-3629.) Staff contact is Daniel Ducore, 202-326-2526.

Consent agreements given final approval: Following a public comment period, the Commission has made final consent agreements with the following entities. The Commission action makes the consent orders binding on the respondents.

• Hyde Athletic Industries, Inc. and New Balance Athletic Shoes, Inc., settling charges that they misrepresented that all of their athletic footwear is made in the United States when a substantial amount is made wholly abroad. The consent orders prohibit the companies from misrepresenting that footwear made wholly abroad is made in the United States. The consent order with Hyde contains a provision indicating that Hyde would not be in violation of the order if the company makes truthful statements about domestic production of footwear, so long as it is accompanied by certain disclosures. The Commission votes to accept the proposed consent agreements for public comment were 4-1 with Commissioner Roscoe B. Starek III dissenting. In his dissenting statements, Commissioner Starek reiterated his objections to the Commission’s decisions to drop its challenges to broader Made in USA claims in favor of "a regulatory proceeding". Regarding the consent order with Hyde, he added that "since the Commission has opted to conduct a broad review of the ?Made in the USA’ standard. . . it is premature for the Commission to condone use of the Made in USA claims set forth in the [Hyde] safe harbor until it proclaims what the standard is." (See Sept. 6, 1996 news release for more details regarding the consent orders; Docket No. C-9268; FTC File No. 022 3236.) Staff contact is Elaine D. Kolish, 202-326-3042 or C. Steven Baker, 312-326-3042.

Comments on the Hoechst application should be addressed to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC’s Public Reference Branch, Room 130, at the same address; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202- 326-2710. FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC’s World Wide Web site at: http://www.ftc.gov