In his paper on those activities of the United States Federal Trade Commission that relate to consumer information, John Miller reminds us that, although originally set up in i9i 4 to ensure the proper functioning of competition, the F.T.C. has long had a wider responsibility for consumer protection. Included in this aspect of its role is the provision of information designed to combat unfair and deceptive trading practices.
Stopping deception is of course itself one way of improving consumer information and the F.T.C. may seek to do this by issuing a complaint and securing a "cease and desist" order and by publishing Trade Regulation Rules. The former procedure has a parallel in Britain in the power of the Director General of Fair Trading under Part III of the Fair Trading Act I973, to require a written assurance from a trader who has persistently broken the civil or criminal law. This is a useful support, for example, to prosecutions for false descriptions of goods and services and refusal to give such an assurance or failure to comply with an assurance will result in Court proceedings for the equivalent of a "cease and desist" order.
The latter procedure, publishing proposed Trade Regulation Rules, with public hearings prior to the final adoption of the Rules, has some parallel in Britain's Fair Trading Act, Part II. But whereas the F.T.C. is the initiating, hearing and regulationmaking agency, the Office of Fair Trading has powers of initiative only in proposing new laws to correct trading abuses -there is an independent Advisory Committee to examine the proposals and conduct hearings (if it wishes), following which another Government Department has the responsibility for making regulations (if it thinks fit).
John Miller points to the enforcement of legislative disclosure requirements as another way of improving consumer information. The F.T.C. has the responsibility for enforcing many labelling and other disclosure requirements, including "truth in lending."
The latter notion is now being borrowed in Britain for all consumer credit agreements though not without much concern at the complexity of the regulations that traders need to comply with.
The F.T.C. does of course itself disseminate consumer information. Such work is also a duty of the Director General of Fair Trading in Britain, buttressed by another duty -to encourage trade associations to adopt voluntary codes of practice for the promotion of the consumer interest. Invariably these codes of practice include requirements for traders to give clear information as to prices, types of goods, and warranties of after-sale service.
Mr. Miller explains how in recent years the F.T.C. has expanded its informational activities, including control of unfair or deceptive advertising through cease and desist orders. The omission of a material fact may constitute deception. In Britain, controls over advertising consist of a mixture of legal controls, under the Trade Descriptions