AMC recommends repeal of Robinson-Patman

As expected (we reported it here a month ago), the Antitrust Modernization Commission has recommended to Congress that the Robinson-Patman Act should be repealed.

The commission, which has been meeting and deliberating for three years, said lawmakers should put an end to the Robinson-Patman Act, which bars suppliers from engaging in anticompetitive price discrimination.

"The act has really outlived its usefulness and is better put to rest," said Jonathan Jacobson, an antitrust lawyer with the firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and a member of the commission.

The Washington Post provides the arguments against R-P, which has never been popular with econmists.

When it came to the Robinson-Patman Act, however, the commission recommended repeal. Congress passed the act in 1936 with the idea of leveling the playing field between small businesses and chain discount stores.

Enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act has been in decline since the 1990s as the statute has come under increasing criticism from economists, who say it works against the interest of consumers by discouraging legitimate discounting.

Critics say the act actually hurts small businesses because some suppliers choose to avoid selling to them altogether to avoid running afoul of the law. "It makes price competition more difficult and complicated," Jacobson said.

I very much question the last paragraph -- a "problem" I have literally never even heard of in more than three decades in this business. But, nonetheless, I agree that R-P is a far-from-perfect piece of legislation (I presented a short form of my proposed fixes in the previous post, and I think I will flesh out the argument a bit more in the next few days).

It seems to me, though, that given the importance of this issue to our trade, that this is something on which we should present a group position to Congress. Even if there are differing opinions within the TPM community (as there surely will be), we can present to Congress our collective wisdom and experience, complete with differing views.

I've suggested to Mike Kantor that this is an appropriate issue for TPMA to take a leadership role.

Note: The full report is here (warning: it's 540 pages -- if anybody bothers to read the whole thing, please let me know).