[Code of Federal Regulations] [Title 16, Volume 1] [Revised as of January 1, 2005] From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 16CFR240.1] [Page 162-163] TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION PART 240_GUIDES FOR ADVERTISING ALLOWANCES AND OTHER MERCHANDISING PAYMENTS AND SERVICES--Table of Contents Sec. 240.1 Purpose of the Guides. Sec. 240.1 Purpose of the Guides. 240.2 Applicability of the law. 240.3 Definition of seller. 240.4 Definition of customer. 240.5 Definition of competing customers. 240.6 Interstate commerce. 240.7 Services or facilities. 240.8 Need for a plan. 240.9 Proportionally equal terms. 240.10 Availability to all competing customers. 240.11 Wholesaler or third party performance of seller's obligations. 240.12 Checking customer's use of payments. 240.13 Customer's and third party liability. 240.14 Meeting competition. 240.15 Cost justification. [[Page 163]] Authority: Secs. 5, 6, 38 Stat. 719, as amended, 721; 15 U.S.C. 45, 46; 49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13, as amended. Source: 55 FR 33663, Aug. 17, 1990, unless otherwise noted. The purpose of these Guides is to provide assistance to businesses seeking to comply with sections 2 (d) and (e) of the Robinson-Patman Act (the ``Act''). The guides are based on the language of the statute, the legislative history, administrative and court decisions, and the purposes of the Act. Although the Guides are consistent with the case law, the Commission has sought to provide guidance in some areas where no definitive guidance is provided by the case law. The Guides are what their name implies--guidelines for compliance with the law. They do not have the force of law.