International voluntary agreements

Effective 90 days after December 22, 1975, the requirements of this section shall be the sole procedures applicable to— The Secretary, with the approval of the Attorney General, after each of them has consulted with the Federal Trade Commission and the Secretary of State, shall prescribe, by rule, standards and procedures by which persons engaged in the business of producing, transporting, refining, distributing, or storing petroleum products may develop and carry out voluntary agreements, and plans of action, which are required to implement the international emergency response provisions. The standards and procedures prescribed under subsection (b) shall include the following requirements: There shall be available as a defense to any civil or criminal action brought under the antitrust laws (or any similar State law) in respect to actions taken to develop or carry out a voluntary agreement or plan of action by persons engaged in the business of producing, transporting, refining, distributing, or storing petroleum products (provided that such actions were not taken for the purpose of injuring competition) that— such actions were taken— No provision of this section shall be construed as granting immunity for, or as limiting or in any way affecting any remedy or penalty which may result from any legal action or proceeding arising from, any act or practice which occurred prior to the date of enactment of this chapter or subsequent to its expiration or repeal. Section 4558 of title 50 shall not apply to any agreement or action undertaken for the purpose of developing or carrying out— The Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission shall each submit to the Congress and to the President, at such intervals as are appropriate based on significant developments and issues, reports on the impact on competition and on small business of actions authorized by this section. In any action in any Federal or State court for breach of contract, there shall be available as a defense that the alleged breach of contract was caused predominantly by action taken during an international energy supply emergency to carry out a voluntary agreement or plan of action authorized and approved in accordance with this section. As used in this section and section 6274 of this title: The term “international emergency response provisions” means— the emergency response measures adopted by the Governing Board of the International Energy Agency (including the July 11, 1984, decision by the Governing Board on “Stocks and Supply Disruptions”) for— The antitrust defense under subsection (f) shall not extend to the international allocation of petroleum products unless allocation is required by chapters III and IV of the international energy program during an international energy supply emergency. With respect to any plan of action approved by the Attorney General after July 2, 1985— the defenses under subsection (f) and (j) shall be applicable to Type 1 activities (as that term is defined in the International Energy Agency Emergency Management Manual, dated December 1982) only if— For the purpose of this subsection— This subsection is enacted by the Congress—