Federal Trade Commission

• Pages: 428-432

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580

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

Chairman Timothy J. Muris

Executive Assistant Christine Wilson

Commissioners Sheila F. Anthony, Thomas B. Leary, Orson Swindle, Mozelle W. Thompson

Executive Director Rosemarie A. Straight

Deputy Executive Director Judith Bailey

Chief Information Officer Stephen Warren

Chief Financial Officer Henry Hoffman

Director, Bureau of Competition Joseph J. Simons

Deputy Directors Susan A. Creighton

M. Sean Royall

Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection J. Howard Beales III

Deputy Directors Lydia B. Parnes

C. Lee Peeler

Director, Bureau of Economics David T. Scheffman

Deputy Directors Mary Coleman, Acting

Paul A. Pautler

General Counsel William E. Kovacic

Principal Deputy General Counsel John D. Graubert

Director, Office of Congressional Relations Anna H. Davis

Director, Office of Public Affairs Cathy M. MacFarlane

Director, Office of Policy Planning R. Ted Cruz

Secretary of the Commission Donald S. Clark

Chief Administrative Law Judge James P. Timony

Inspector General Frederick J. Zirkel

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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.

Activities

The Commission's principal functions are to:

--promote competition through the prevention of general trade restraints such as price-fixing agreements, boycotts, illegal combinations of

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competitors, and other unfair methods of competition;

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

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

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

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

--promote 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;

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

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