Federal Trade Commission

• Pages: 425-429

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580

Phone, 202-326-2222. Internet, www.ftc.gov.

Chairman Deborah P. Majoras

Chief of Staff Maryanne Kane

Commissioners Pamela Jones Harbour, Thomas B. Leary, Jonathan Leibowitz, Orson Swindle

Executive Director Judith Bailey, Acting

Deputy Executive Director Judith Bailey

Chief Information Officer Stephen Warren

Chief Financial Officer Henry Hoffman

Director, Bureau of Competition Susan A. Creighton

Deputy Directors Jeffrey Schmidt

Barry Nigro

Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection Lydia B. Parnes, Acting

Deputy Directors Lydia B. Parnes

3. Lee Peeler

Director, Bureau of Economics Luke Froeb

Deputy Directors Mark Frankena

Paul A. Pautler

General Counsel William Blumenthal

Principal Deputy General Counsel John D. Graubert

Director, Office of Congressional Relations Anna H. Davis

Director, Office of Public Affairs Nancy Ness Judy

Director, Office of Policy Planning Maureen K. Ohlhausen, Acting

Secretary of the Commission Donald S. Clark

Chief Administrative Law Judge Stephen J. McGuire

Inspector General Adam R. Trzeciak, Acting

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The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction to enhance consumer welfare and protect competition in broad sectors of the economy. The Commission enforces the laws that prohibit business practices that are anticompetitive, deceptive, or unfair to consumers; promotes informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process; and seeks to accomplish its mission without impeding legitimate business activity.

The Federal Trade Commission was established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41-58). The Commission is composed of five members appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 7 years. Not more than three of the Commissioners may be members of the same political party. One Commissioner is designated by the President as Chairman of the Commission and is responsible for its administrative management.

T201944.042

Activities

The Commission's principal functions include the following:

--promoting competition through the prevention of general trade restraints such as price-fixing agreements, boycotts, illegal combinations of competitors, and other unfair methods of competition;

--stopping corporate mergers, acquisitions, or joint ventures that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly;

--preventing pricing discrimination, exclusive dealing, tying arrangements, and discrimination among competing customers by sellers;

--preventing interlocking directorates or officers' positions that may restrain competition;

--preventing the dissemination of false or deceptive advertisements of consumer productsand services as well as other unfair or deceptive practices;

--promoting electronic commerce by stopping fraud on the Internet and working with other domestic and foreign agencies to develop and promote policies to safeguard online privacy of personal information;

--protecting the privacy of consumers' personal informationto prevent illegal or unwanted use of financial or other data;

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