01-7770. Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993-Water Heater Industry Joint Research and Development Consortium

Notice is hereby given that, on February 9, 2000 and February 26, 2001, pursuant to Section 6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (“the Act”), the Water Heater Industry Joint Research and Development Consortium (“the Consortium”) has filed written notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission disclosing an extension of its term. The notifications were filed for the purpose of extending the Act's provisions limiting the recovery of antitrust plaintiffs to actual damages under specified circumstances. Specifically, the term of the Consortium has been changed from a term of five years beginning February 27, 1995 to a period of seven years.

No other changes have been made in either the membership or planned activity of the group research project. Membership in this group research project remains open, and the Consortium intends to file additional written notification disclosing all changes in membership.

On February 28, 1995, the consortium filed it original notification pursuant to Section 6(a) of the Act. The Department of Justice published a notice in the Federal Register pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Act on March 27, 1995 (60 FR 15789).

The last notification was filed with the Department on December 3, 1999. A notice was published in the Federal Register on May 12, 2000 (65 FR 30613).

Constance K. Robinson,

Director of Operations Antitrust Division.