What is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)?
The Federal Trade Commission is the only federal agency that deals with consumer protection and competition issues in broad sectors of the economy. The FTC's mission is to protect consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, and education without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.
The FTC’s work to protect consumers and promote competition touches the economic life of every American, and reports its daily responsibilities as follows:
The organizational structure of the FTC provides for Bureaus which focus on specific areas, as follows:
The Bureau of Competition seeks to prevent anticompetitive mergers and other anticompetitive business practices in the marketplace. By enforcing the antitrust laws, the Bureau promotes competition and protects consumers' freedom to choose goods and services in an open marketplace at a price and quality that fit their needs.
The Bureau of Consumer Protection's mandate is to protect consumers against unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices. The Bureau enforces a variety of consumer protection laws enacted by Congress, as well as trade regulation rules issued by the Commission. Its actions include individual company and industry-wide investigations, administrative and federal court litigation, rulemaking proceedings, and consumer and business education. In addition, the Bureau contributes to the Commission's on-going efforts to inform Congress and other government entities of the impact that proposed actions could have on consumers.
The Bureau of Economics helps the FTC evaluate the economic impact of its actions. To do so, the Bureau provides economic analysis and support to antitrust and consumer protection investigations and rulemakings. It also analyzes the impact of government regulation on competition and consumers and provides Congress, the Executive Branch and the public with economic analysis of market processes as they relate to antitrust, consumer protection, and regulation.
3600 West Bayshore Rd, Suite 101
Palo Alto, CA 94303
4300 Commerce Ct,
Suite 100
Lisle, IL 60532
Plot 270, Phase, 2, Udyog Vihar, Sector 20, Gurugram, Haryana 122016