US: DOJ, FTC react to Judiciary Subcommittee: schedule real estate workshop

Daniel Castro, vice president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), announced that he had “seen some evidence” that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would hold a workshop on real estate competition, Inman reported.

The workshop would discuss the “legal hurdles, regulatory barriers, and anti-competitive actions in the real estate industry that may suppress competition,” Castro later said via email.

In a phone interview, a DOJ official confirmed to Inman that a joint DOJ-FTC workshop on real estate competition would be held sometime in the spring, though the official said no details were available yet as to when exactly the workshop would be held, what it would cover, and who would participate.

The workshop will be held in response to a letter the DOJ received on September 21, 2017 from the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights regarding concerns about real estate competition, the official said.

The workshops tend to be one-day or half-day affairs that consist of a series of panels and presentations led and organized by government staff. The agencies also usually have a public comment period before and after the workshop “where individuals and organizations can submit written responses to the questions under consideration,” Castro said.

Full Content: inman

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