Q. 4. What agencies of the federal government enforce the federal antitrust laws
ID: 2621895 • Letter: Q
Question
Q. 4. What agencies of the federal government enforce the federal antitrust laws? (2 points)
Q. 5. Super Sweet Soda is engaged in the soft-drink bottling and distribution industry in the states of New York and New Jersey. The firm currently has about 40 percent of the market for these products and related services. Carbonate Distribution Corporation competes with Super Sweet Soda in the same states. Carbonate has about 35 percent of the market. If Super Sweet Soda were to acquire the stock and assets of Carbonate through a horizontal merger, would Super Sweet Soda be in violation of any of the antitrust laws? If so, which one? Discuss fully. (10 points)
Q. 6. When will advertising be deemed deceptive? (5 points)
Q. 7. What act created the first comprehensive scheme of regulation over matters concerning consumer safety? (5 points)
Q. 8. Dave receives an unsolicited credit card in the mail. Before he can check the mail, the credit card is stolen from his mailbox. The thief uses Dave
Explanation / Answer
ANS - 4
In the U.S. you have a variety of agencies (both federal and state) which play a role in the enforcement of antitrust laws.
Both the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division enforce the federal antitrust laws. In some respects their authorities overlap, but in practice the two agencies complement each other. Over the years, the agencies have developed expertise in particular industries or markets. For example, the FTC devotes most of its resources to certain segments of the economy, including those where consumer spending is high: health care, pharmaceuticals, professional services, food, energy, and certain high-tech industries like computer technology and Internet services. Before opening an investigation, the agencies consult with one another to avoid duplicating efforts. In this guide, "the agency" means either the FTC or DOJ, whichever is conducting the antitrust investigation.
Premerger notification filings, correspondence from consumers or businesses, Congressional inquiries, or articles on consumer or economic subjects may trigger an FTC investigation. Generally, FTC investigations are non-public to protect both the investigation and the individuals and companies involved. If the FTC believes that a person or company has violated the law or that a proposed merger may violate the law, the agency may attempt to obtain voluntary compliance by entering into a consent order with the company. A company that signs a consent order need not admit that it violated the law, but it must agree to stop the disputed practices outlined in an accompanying complaint or take certain steps to resolve the anticompetitive aspects of its proposed merger.
If a consent agreement cannot be reached, the FTC may issue an administrative complaint and/or seek injunctive relief in the federal courts. The FTC's administrative complaints initiate a formal proceeding that is much like a federal court trial but before an administrative law judge: evidence is submitted, testimony is heard, and witnesses are examined and cross-examined. If a law violation is found, a cease and desist order may be issued. An initial decision by an administrative law judge may be appealed to the Commission.
Final decisions issued by the Commission may be appealed to a U.S. Court of Appeals and, ultimately, to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Commission's position is upheld, the FTC, in certain circumstances, may then seek consumer redress in court. If the company violates an FTC order, the Commission also may seek civil penalties or an injunction.
ANS -6
Advertising that makes false claims or misleading statements, as well as advertising that creates a false impression. If retailers systematically advertise merchandise at low prices to get customers into their stores and then fail to have the merchandise, they are guilty of deceptive advertising. Deceptive practices can take many other forms as well, such as false promises, unsubstantiated claims, incomplete descriptions, false testimonials or comparisons, small-print qualifications of advertisements, partial disclosure, or visual distortion of products. Anyone-including the manufacturer of a product, the advertising agency preparing the advertisement, the retailer, or even a celebrity who endorses a product-can be prosecuted for making unsubstantiated claims about a product or service. As a matter of fact, any advertising that leads the consumer to make purchase decisions based on false assumptions about the price and quality of competitive products is considered deceptive practice and is punishable by law. Responsibility for enforcement of the laws dealing with unfair and deceptive advertising comes under the jurisdiction of the federal trade commission.
ANS - 7
he history of the Food and Drug Administration is also the history of consumer protection as applied to food, drugs, cosmetics, and other products now regulated by the Agency. That history began long before the initials "F," "D," and "A" became household words, as this article points out. Wallace F. Janssen began writing about FDA as a trade journal editor in 1931. He joined the Agency in 1951 as assistant to the commissioner for public information and continued to be its information chief until 1966.
Being engaged primarily in agricultural research and development, the early FDA scientists inevitably became involved in matters of food safety. The 1862 report referred also to problems of food preservation and uses of chemical preservatives. The report of 1873 contains analysis of cereals, wine, and opium. In 1874 the adulteration of milk with water and chemicals was discussed, along with experiments on the effects of arsenic and copper pesticides on plants and the possibility of harm to humans.
Federal concern for drugs started with the establishment of U.S. customs laboratories to administer the Import Drugs Act of 1848. The United States had become the world's dumping ground for counterfeit, contaminated, diluted, and decomposed drug materials -- a dangerous situation. American troops in Mexico had suffered from spurious medication for malaria. Pharmacists and the new American Medical Association joined forces to secure the legislation. The mission of the new Customs laboratories was to enforce the purity and potency standards of the U.S. Pharmacopeia, established by trade and professional leaders in 1820. But support dwindled and the program gradually faded away. No organizational connection has been found with the agency now known as the FDA.
The United States was very slow to recognize the need for a national food and drug law. Frederick Accum's "Treatise on Adulterations of Food and Methods of Detecting Them" had been published in London and Philadelphia in 1820, and Great Britain's first national food law was passed in 1860. In the United States a variety of state laws dated from colonial times. Enacted mainly to serve the needs of trade, these laws set standards of weight and measure, and provided for inspections of exports like salt meats, fish and flour, to promote foreign sales. But there were also local bread inspection laws to insure consumer protection as well as fair competition between bakers.
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act
The six-page Wiley law prohibited the manufacture and interstate shipment of "adulterated" and "misbranded" foods and drugs. It enabled the Government to go to court against illegal products but lacked affirmative requirements to guide compliance. Labels were not even required to state the weight or measure -- only that a contents statement, if used, must be truthful. By 1913, food manufacturers, alarmed by growing variety of state weight and measure laws, sought uniformity through the Gould Amendment to the federal law -- requiring net contents to be declared, with tolerances for reasonable variations.
Problems with the 1906 Act
False therapeutic claims for patent medicines had escaped control in 1912 when Congress enacted an amendment outlawing such claims but requiring the Government to prove them fraudulent; i.e., that the promoter intended to swindle his victims. A defendant had only to show that he personally believed in his fake remedy to escape prosecution -- a major weakness in the law for 26 years.
Food adulteration continued to flourish because judges could find no specific authority in the law for the standards of purity and content which FDA had set up. Such products as "fruit" jams made with water, glucose, grass seed, and artificial color undercut the market for honest products.
Economic hardships of the 1930's magnified the many shortcomings of the 1906 act and brought a new consciousness of consumer needs. The book Your Money
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