If you regularly use FTC.gov to find cases, speeches, reports or such, then you’ve probably noticed a few changes. We know -- change is hard. But with added features like drop-down menus and filters, finding what you need on the new FTC.gov should be easier than ever.
The new website uses a content management system that allows documents and webpages to be grouped together by the use of “tags” or keywords. Most content on FTC.gov has been tagged on a variety of parameters: date, mission (Competition or Consumer Protection), document type, industry, topic, and, if applicable, various legal identifiers that distinguish our federal court cases from our administrative actions.
Here are some tips for finding competition content on the new FTC.gov.
Start with a Search. Most of the time, the quickest way to find what you’re looking for is to use the general search box at the top right corner. You’ll be able to further narrow your search results using built-in filters on the search results page to look for a particular date range or document type, such as Press Releases, Cases, Public Events, Public Statements, Amicus Briefs, and HSR Informal Interpretations, to name a few. Need more help? Check out our advanced search tips to shorten your search and find suggestions for how to do an either/or search.
Search for Cases by Docket Number or Party Name. This will be the quickest way to find a specific case using the general search box. If you don’ know either the docket number or a party name, start with Cases and Proceedings page, which is in the drop-down menu under 鶹ý. On the Cases and Proceedings page, if it’s a competition case you’re looking for, select the Competition filter from the Mission drop-down menu on the left. You can further narrow your search if you know other aspects of the case. For instance, if the case is pending in Part III administrative litigation, you can select Part III Administrative Complaint from the 鶹ý Type drop-down filter, which is also located on the left side of the page. (Be sure to click Apply after selecting your filters.) What you’ll get is a complete, chronological list of FTC competition cases since 1996 in which the Commission issued an administrative complaint. Or if you want an alphabetical list, click on Title to sort by case name—it’s just that easy.
Use the Advanced Search for Cases—it’s a power tool. This feature allows you to generate custom lists of FTC enforcement actions based on a host of parameters, such as industry, topic, type of violation, or even the court in which the case was filed. The link for the Advanced Search is located at the bottom of the grey Filter box on the Cases and Proceedings page. So, if you’re looking for every FTC merger case filed in the federal district court for the District of Columbia, or every FTC hospital merger case since 1996, you can generate that list using the Advanced Search. Pretty handy, right? (Some of you may be wondering what happened to our Competition 鶹ý Database with all the PDFs. We’re still providing enforcement statistics in a chart format but now you can build your own custom list of cases using the Advanced Search for Cases.)
Don’t be thrown off by the dates. Cases are now ranked in chronological order based on the most recent update to the case docket. You can find out the latest development in any pending Commission enforcement action simply by scrolling through the list. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a case that was announced in a particular year, you can use the filters to limit the date range based on the date the case was released.
Use the Improved Event Calendar to find Workshops and Hearings. Looking for an FTC workshop? All public events are now found in the Commission’s Events Calendar under News & Events, which will take you to materials from any event hosted by the FTC in the past twenty years. Let’s say you want to find a presentation from the 27 days of hearings on Health Care and Competition Policy from 2003. From the Events Calendar, click on All Events to see the complete chronological list of all FTC events, and then search using the keywords “health care.” From the list of results, you’ll find the workshop page that contains the agenda as well as all the transcripts of all the hearings. Looking for information on an upcoming event? Those are listed right up front on the FTC homepage, or anywhere you see the Events Calendar graphic.
Core Competition Resources are one-click away. From the FTC homepage, get the drop-down menu under Tips and Advice to check out the Competition Guidance page. This is the go-to spot for our most popular competition documents, from antitrust guidelines developed with the Department of Justice, such as the Horizontal Merger Guidelines, to competition advisory opinions and other enforcement policy statements. You can still find our sector-specific collections for Health Care, Oil and Gas, and Technology, our one-stop pages containing links to all the Commission’s work in those important areas over the years.
Subscribe to email updates for Press Releases and the new Competition Matters blog. You can stay up-to-date with the most recent news, and get insights from competition folks around the FTC when you sign up to receive competition press releases or the latest posts from our Competition Matters blog. From time to time, we’ll blog about lesser-known-but-still-important competition documents that don’t make it to the front page.
We hope that you find that new is better, but if you have suggestions for improvements, let us know at ftcgovweb@ftc.gov. And look for future posts with tips on using features of the new website to search for other content, like early termination notices.