August was a busy month for the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition as it released long-awaited guidance on a key provision of the FTC Act and, not long after, one of the bureau’s few Republican commissioners announced his resignation. First, on Aug. 13, the commission issued formal guidelines under which it will enforce and challenge practices on a “standalone” basis under Section 5′s “unfair methods of competition” provision.1 Then, only a few days later, Commissioner Joshua D. Wright announced that he would resign his position at the Bureau of Competition, effective Aug. 24.
In many ways, the conclusion of Wright’s tenure dovetails nicely with the announcement of formal Section 5 guidelines, as Wright spent a great deal of time and effort during his two-and-a-half years at the FTC championing the cause. The result of those efforts was a bipartisan 4-1 vote with only Republican Commissioner Maureen K. Ohlhausen dissenting to the promulgation of Section 5 rules. To many, though, these new guidelines do not quite represent a victory for Wright as they are quite general and may prove to not be practical tools for those looking for clear guidance.
