Analysis Of The Federal Trade Commission

2304 Words5 Pages

Established in 1914, the Federal Trade Commission is an independent regulatory agency in the United States. Its main role is to create a fair and competitive business trade in the United States. Originally established under President Wilson’s administration, the FTC was created to protect the public and businesses from unfair business trade and to formulate a strong and reliable relationship between consumers and businesses. Members of the Federal Trade Commission are appointed by the President and authorized by the Senate. Generally, the FTC is consisted of five appointed members that are sworn in for seven-year terms. However; the current structure of the FTC has only four appointed members: one chairman and three commissioners. Currently, FTC has one vacant commissioner position (FTC.gov, 2014). The current organizational chart of the FTC is constructed as follows: Edith Ramirez (Chairwoman), Julie Brill (Commissioner), Maureen Ohlhausen (Commissioner), and Joshua D. Wright (Commissioner) The Federal Trade Commission also consists of various offices, each constructed to focus on different areas of regulation and rulemaking.
The Federal Trade Commission is consisted of three bureaus and ten offices. Each bureau is intended to focus on a specific area to ensure that fair-trading is being practiced in the country. The Bureau of Competition seeks to eliminate anticompetitive business practices through the antitrust laws, ensuring that consumers receive goods and services at prices competent to their qualities. The Bureau of Consumer Protection seeks to protect consumers from unfair and fraudulent practices. Moreover, the bureau investigates individual companies and corporations to ensure that no fraudulent activity is endangering...

... middle of paper ...

... also find information on FTC’s website to repair their identity. Other areas that the FTC works on are to prevent Internet scams that claim winnings, unbelievably low cost offers, unwanted e-mails and phone calls from telemarketers, and e-mail hacking. The Federal Trade Commission regularly posts tips and guidelines that consumers may benefit from including ways to repair a credit score without falling for scams, paying an appropriate price for the quality of the product, and many other areas from which the public may benefit without any cost. The Commission also posts articles that may help consumers from being victimized by the weight-loss industry and the various ways they can use to figure out if the claims made by companies are legitimate. The public may access these and other types of information through the Federal Trade Commission’s website at www.ftc.gov.

Open Document