The American Land Title Association (ALTA) is committed to full compliance with all laws and regulations. Antitrust law protects the nation’s free and competitive economy by preventing common action by competitors that would tend to restrain competition.

In order to comply with the applicable antitrust laws, ALTA members should take care in meetings not to discuss non-public information regarding:

  1. transaction terms;
  2. current or future pricing (including elements of pricing); or
  3. other confidential terms and conditions of a transaction or bid for a transaction.

In addition, discussion of direct competitive issues that might be deemed an attempt to collude, conspire, or restrain competition should be avoided. These topics include:

  1. allocating markets or customers;
  2. discouraging business (boycott) with a particular agent, vendor, or other partner;
  3. limiting future production or announcing future policies and product offerings;
  4. “speech making” regarding chaotic markets and the need for “order” (uniformity); and
  5. calling for the exclusion of a competitor.

Policy Issues

In discussions touching on public policy issues, all participants in the conversation should follow the guidelines above. In addition:

  1. ALTA staff may collect, confidentially, information about different approaches to an industry business practice and may share (without attribution) the results of such an informal survey with policy-makers. Information may be shared either as a specific example of one company’s approach or as an overview of different possible approaches. Confidential information obtained through such informal surveys may not be shared with other members in a manner that would disclose a specific member’s business plans or practices.

  2. ALTA should avoid making statements on behalf of “the industry” that could be viewed as an agreement with respect to terms and conditions upon which individual companies would agree to do business or a joint approach to doing business with specific customers (or groups of customers) or other third-parties.

Standard Forms

Standardization of forms, in general, is viewed as benign (at worst) or pro-competitive (at best). The ALTA Forms Committee and ALTA Forms Committee members should:

  1. incorporate the option to use or not to use the forms;
  2.  incorporate the option to adjust scope of coverage;
  3. avoid discussions about current or prospective pricing;
  4. avoid discussions about other competitively sensitive information; and
  5. avoid sharing information that would not ordinarily be shared with a competitor.