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Concept of the Federal Trade Commission

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Concept of the Federal Trade Commission

Concept of the Federal Trade Commission
Kenneth Hunter
Grantham University

Abstract What is the concept of the federal trade commission? How do they help us in our everyday economic planning? Is the federal trade commission the reason for businesses being more customer orientated? Can this will design federal government section keep big businesses in check or will small business be left for the taking. How is the federal trade commission broken to oversee the companies and how these laws are being kept? Why is this so important to the American people? This section of the American is like the godfather of business protection and keeper of guidelines. This area is cornerstone of ensuring a balance to the business world as we know today. You have to ask yourself without them would the economic be safe?

Current Mission
Let’s take a look at the current mission of the Federal Trade Commission as we know today. As a consumer or business person, you may be more familiar with the work of the Federal Trade Commission than you think. The FTC deals with issues that touch the economic life of every American. It is the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy. The FTC pursues vigorous and effective law enforcement; advances consumers’ interests by sharing its expertise with federal and state legislatures and U.S. and international government agencies; develops policy and research tools through hearings, workshops, and conferences; and creates practical and plain-language educational programs for consumers and businesses in a global marketplace with constantly changing technologies. When the FTC was created in 1914, its purpose was to prevent unfair methods of competition in commerce as part of the battle to “bust the trusts.” Over the years, Congress passed additional laws giving the agency greater authority to police anticompetitive practices. In 1938, Congress passed a broad prohibition against “unfair and deceptive acts or practices.” Since then, the Commission also has been directed to administer a wide variety of other consumer protection laws, including the Telemarketing Sales Rule, the Pay-Per-Call Rule and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. In 1975, Congress gave the FTC the authority to adopt industry-wide trade regulation rules. The FTC’s work is performed by the Bureaus of Consumer Protection, Competition and Economics. That work is aided by the Office of General Counsel and seven regional offices. As one can see the Federal Trade Commission is more the business police they are designed to help business and education them when the need is there or lost sight of in the day to day working of a company or large business organizations. Keep in mind that this federal is still young and will face hurdles in the future as time and technology changes. Now let’s move on to the next topic in this paper what are the areas of responsible for the FTC.
FTC Responsible
Let’s take a like at the primary areas of responsible of the Federal Trade Commission. The areas of responsible for the FTC are Bureau of Consumer Protection, bureau of competition, bureau of economics, and unfair or deceptive affecting consumers. The first area is the Bureau of Consumer Protection. The Bureau of Consumer Protection’s mandate is to protect consumers against unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. With the written consent of the Commission, Bureau attorneys enforce federal laws related to consumer affairs as well as rules promulgated by the FTC. Its functions include investigations, enforcement actions, and consumer and business education. Areas of principal concern for this bureau are: advertising and marketing, financial products and practices, telemarketing fraud, privacy and identity protection etc. The bureau also is responsible for the United States National Do Not Call Registry. Next, the Bureau of Competition is the division of the FTC charged with elimination and prevention of "anticompetitive" business practices. It accomplishes this through the enforcement of antitrust laws, review of proposed mergers, and investigation into other non-merger business practices that may impair competition. Such non-merger practices include horizontal restraints, involving agreements between direct competitors, and vertical restraints, involving agreements among businesses at different levels in the same industry (such as suppliers and commercial buyers). Next, the Bureau of Economics was established to support the Bureau of Competition and Consumer Protection by providing expert knowledge related to the economic impacts of the FTC's legislation and operation. The last place of focus is unfair or deceptive acts or practices. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45 grants the FTC power to investigate and prevent deceptive trade practices. The statute declares that “unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful.” Unfairness and deception towards consumers represent two distinct areas of FTC enforcement and authority. The FTC also has authority over unfair methods of competition between businesses. As you can see the FTC is a lot then what we think and it is in place to protect the consumers.

References: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/about.shtm http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/brfovrvw.shtm revised July 2008

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