Announced Actions for March 31, 2000

Applications for approval of transactions:

• The FTC has received an application for the approval of a proposed divestiture from the following: Exxon Mobil Corporation. The application regards Exxon Mobil's proposed divestiture of assets, as detailed in Paragraph X.B. of the proposed order in this matter. In the application, the company has requested approval to divest Mobil's interest in the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) to the Williams Alaska Pipeline Company, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Williams Companies, Inc.

The Commission is seeking public comment on the application for 30 days, until May 1, 2000. Comments should be sent to the Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. (FTC File No. 991-0077; Docket No. C-3907; staff contact is Daniel P. Ducore, 202-326-2526; see press release dated November 30, 1999.)

• The FTC has received an application for the approval of a proposed divestiture from the following: Fidelity National Financial, Inc. The application concerns Fidelity National's request for Commission approval to sell Old Republic Title Company a copy of each of the two title plants serving Merced County, California, owned, respectively, by Chicago Title Insurance Company (the Chicago Merced Plant), and by Security Union Title Insurance Company (the Security Union Merced Plant). The application was made pursuant to the Commission's order in Docket No. C-3929.

The Commission is seeking public comment on the application for 30 days, until May 1, 2000. Comments should be sent to the Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. (Docket No. C-3929; staff contact is Daniel P. Ducore, 202-326-2526; see press release dated January 12, 2000.)

• The FTC has received an application for approval of a proposed divestiture from the following: VNU, N.V. The application concerns VNU's request to divest its Competitive Media Reporting (CMR) Division to an entity owned and controlled by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) p.l.c., a public limited company organized under the law of the United Kingdom.

TNS, headquartered in London, is an international market research firm with two major areas of focus: television audience measurement and advertising expenditure measurement. The application was made pursuant to the Commission's order in Docket No. C-3900.  

The Commission is seeking public comment on the application for 30 days, until May 1, 2000. Comments should be sent to the Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. (Docket No. C-3900; staff contact is Elizabeth Piotrowski, Deputy Assistant Director, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2623; see press release dated October 22, 1999.)

Filing of amended complaint:

• The FTC has authorized staff to file an amended complaint in the following matter: FTC v. Mediworks, Inc., part of Project Biz-illion$, a multi-agency effort to identify business opportunity scams on the Internet. Through the amended complaint, MediDistribution, Inc.; United Legal Associates; and MediWorks have been added as defendants; United Medical Associates has been identified as d/b/a United Legal Assc.; and Corinna Krueger has been added as an individual defendant. The complaint was filed on March 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The Commission vote to file the amended complaint in this matter was 5-0. (FTC File No. X000021, Civil Action No. 00-01079 ; staff contact is Jerry Steiner, Western Regional Office, 415-356-5282; see press release dated March 6, 2000.)

Publication of Federal Register notices:

• The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice requesting public comments about the overall costs and benefits and the continuing need for its Guides for the Household Furniture Industry (Furniture Guides), as part of the FTC's systematic review of all current Commission guides and regulations. As detailed in the notice, which will be published shortly, the Guides are voluntary guidelines containing interpretations of acts or practices that the Commission has issued to assist members of the industry in complying with Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Written comments on the Guides will be accepted until 60 days following publication of the Federal Register notice. Comments should be directed to: Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, Room H-159, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Comments should be identified as "Household Furniture Industry Guides, 16 CFR Part 250 - Comment."  

The Commission vote to publish the Federal Register notice was 5-0. (FTC File No. P007102; staff contact is Ingrid E. Whittaker-Ware, Southeast Region, 404-656-1364.)

Release of Commission report:

• The Commission has authorized staff to publicly release the following report: Federal Trade Commission Performance Report for Fiscal Year 1999. This Fiscal Year 1999 Report is the first performance report required under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). The Report supplements the Commission's five-year Strategic Plan for fiscal years 1997-2000, which was approved on September 29, 1997. The agency's Performance Plans implement the Commission's strategic goals by establishing annual performance targets. The Performance Report compares and evaluates each year's actual performance to the established targets set forth in the Performance Plan.

The Commission vote to release the report was 5-0. (FTC File No. P859900; staff contact is Henry Hoffman, FTC Chief Financial Officer, 202-326-2664.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357); TDD 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.