REVERCOMB, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court upon consideration of the Respondent's motion to alter or amend the Court's judgment of August 17, 1987 and Petitioner's Reply thereto.

On July 2, 1987, the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust issued Civil Investigative Demand (CID) Number 7514 to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) to obtain market data concerning medical diagnostic imaging equipment. The CID was issued pursuant to the Antitrust Division's Clayton Act investigation into the lawfulness, under the antitrust laws, of the proposed joint venture between the General Electric Company and Philips N.V. with regard to the manufacture and sale of medical imaging equipment.

On July 13, 1987, NEMA filed a Petition to Set Aside the CID and the Antitrust Division moved to deny this petition on July 30, 1987. On August 17, 1987, this Court set aside the Civil Investigative Demand, on the condition that the Antitrust Division obtain the market data from the General Electric Company and Philips. On August 24, 1987, the Antitrust Division moved the Court to amend the judgment, having determined that neither General Electric nor Philips could supply all the necessary data. NEMA filed a reply to this motion on August 26, 1987.

The Court hereby grants the Antitrust Division's motion to amend the judgment. In 1976, Congress amended the Antitrust Civil Process Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1311 (1982), to expand the Assistant Attorney General's authority to issue CIDs. Under the amended provisions, the Assistant Attorney General can issue CIDs to third parties to an antitrust investigation as well as to the companies that are the targets of the investigation. Id. § 1312. Moreover, legislative history accompanying the 1976 amendments reveals Congress' intent that the Assistant Attorney General utilize his expanded CID authority to expedite Clayton Act investigations by obtaining market data from trade associations. H.R.Rep. No. 1343, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 7 (1976) (hereinafter House Report); letter dated January 22, 1976 to the Hon. Peter W. Rodino, Jr., Chairman, Subcommittee on Monopolies and Commercial Law, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, from Thomas E. Kauper, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, reprinted in House Report, supra, at 23; Appendix A, example 1, to House Report, supra, at 27. See also S.Rep. No. 803, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 16 (1976). Recognizing that trade associations could provide data available from the original source only after considerable delay, the House endorsed the issuance of CIDs to trade associations to promote full implementation of the Clayton Act mandate for pre-consummation investigations. House Report, supra, at 7, 23, 27. This congressional determination makes it incumbent upon this court to grant respondent's motion to amend the judgment and to order NEMA to comply with the CID.

The court recognizes, however, petitioner's need to maximize confidentiality. The court concludes that petitioner's interest in this regard will be served by the privacy protections incorporated into the Antitrust Civil Process Act. The Act prohibits the Antitrust Division from revealing the data in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. §15 U.S.C. 1314(g). In addition, the Act requires the designation of an official custodian for the materials and provides that individuals other than employees or agents of the Department of Justice may review the materials only with the consent of the party who produced the materials. §15 U.S.C. 1313(c). The government's use of the materials is governed by the constraints found in §15 U.S.C. 1312 and § 1313.

Accordingly, respondent's motion to alter or amend the judgment is granted and the petitioner's reply is denied.

The Order entered herein on August 17, 1987 is amended to provide as follows: It is hereby Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed that Petitioner NEMA comply, within two business days of the entry of this order, with Civil Investigative Demand No. 7514 to the extent that Respondent has not already obtained the requested materials.

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