DOJ Approves NAM Plan to Share Y2K Information

(August 17, 1998)  The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice on Friday announced that it has approved a plan by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to share Year 2000 compliance information via a website.

The NAM had requested the issuance of a business review letter from the DOJ regarding proposals to share information regarding Y2K compliance problems.  Joel Klein, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division wrote in a letter to NAM President Jerry Jasinowski:

You have requested a statement of the Department's current antitrust enforcement intentions regarding two proposed information exchange programs designed to facilitate and expedite the efforts of many manufacturers to resolve the Year 2000 computer transition problems that confront them. Based on the information and assurances that you have provided and the conditions indicated below, the Department has no current intention to challenge the information exchanges proposed by the NAM.

The Antitrust Division also issued a statement on Friday, August 14.  It elaborated that:

NAM is in the process of building an internet web site with a directory of companies and their Year 2000 information. All information relating to Year 2000 problems and solutions will be maintained on the web sites of participating companies and organizations, and will be linked through NAM's central directory and search engine. The information on the company or organizational web sites linked to the NAM directory will consist of a variety of possible materials. Some will identify hardware, software or other products that are believed to be "Year 2000 compliant." Others will identify items that clearly are not compliant, or that may not be ready by January 1, 2000.

Under this internet-based program, companies in a wide variety of industries will be able to review the Year 2000 information of their competitors, suppliers and customers. Information made available to interested persons through the NAM directory will be available for downloading or printing, and it is expected that such information will be distributed individually from company to company and through group or association distributions.

NAM intends to keep its directory as open as possible to create a data base with web site information relating to Year 2000 compliance from all types of companies. NAM membership will not be a condition of access to the Year 2000 information.

However, Antitrust Division head Joel Klein stated that the approval is limited to the sharing of information regarding Year 2000 computer conversion issues.  It does not allow companies to "exchange price or other competitively-sensitive information," to agree "not to compete for particular business," or to agree "not to deal with certain suppliers."

"Based on the information provided to us by NAM and the nature of the information to be exchanged, i.e., related solely to Year 2000 computer conversion issues, the Department does not believe the proposed conduct will have anticompetitive effects," Klein said. He added that while "the Department would be concerned if parties, under the guise of a Year 2000 remedial program, exchange price or other competitively-sensitive information, agreed not to compete for particular business, agreed not to deal with certain suppliers or entered into other anticompetitive agreements, . . . such potentially anticompetitive actions are not necessary to any "good faith" effort to identify or remedy Year 2000 computer conversion problems."

National Association of Manufacturers is the nation's oldest and largest broad-based industrial trade association.  Its nearly 14,000 member companies and subsidiaries, including 10,000 small manufacturers, employ about 85 percent of all manufacturing workers and produce more than 80 percent of the nation's manufactured goods. More than 158,000 additional businesses are affiliated with the NAM through its Associations Council and National Industrial Council.

On July 1 the Antitrust Division issued a statement that it had approved a similar request from the Securities Industry Association.