FOR RELEASE:  2 P.M. (EASTERN), MARCH 18, 1992

      FTC CHAIRMAN STEIGER STRESSES UNIFORM LAW ENFORCEMENT
            TO PROTECT BOTH CONSUMERS AND COMPETITION

     The Federal Trade Commission is pursuing its law-enforcement
work at a brisk pace, rooting out fraud and combatting a broad
range of problems such as credit-reporting errors, misleading
environmental claims, unsupported food and nutrition claims,
misleading diet product and program claims, and deceptive
advertising demonstrations, FTC Chairman Janet D. Steiger told
members of the Dallas Better Business Bureau and Rotary Club
today.  She lauded the BBB's complaint system for helping with
early detection of consumer problems and said that many of the
FTC's recent cases have involved large, well-known companies.

     "In spite of this active enforcement effort, even with
highly visible companies, I am pleased that our agency continues
to enjoy support from the business community," Steiger said.  She
attributed that support to three principles the Commission fol-
lows in its consumer protection law-enforcement program: 

     1) a commitment to listening to both business and consumer
     groups, then developing reasonable standards and explaining
     them to the public and industry;

     2) an understanding that consumer protection law-enforcement
     efforts must protect both consumers and truthful
     competition; and

     3) a renewed effort to coordinate federal, state and local
     efforts so that information is shared and law enforcement is
     more uniform.

                            - more -
Steiger Dallas Remarks--03/18/92)

     As an example of setting reasonable standards that foster
fair competition, Steiger cited the Commission's high-visibility
efforts against deceptive practices in the 900-number and info-
mercial areas.  She noted that the FTC may be "succeeding in
policing the industry against fraud without inhibiting or over-
regulating the legitimate entrant into the market."  

     By the same token, the FTC increasingly has been investi-
gating and bringing clusters of cases rather than a single case
against one key industry player.  This clustering aims to assure
that competitors are treated alike and, as a result, many com-
panies involved in FTC cases appear more willing to cooperate
with the agency, Steiger said, stressing the importance of a
"level playing field."  Unsubstantiated environmental claims in
advertising and labeling injure not only consumers, but also
competition, she said, explaining that when a company makes an
unsubstantiated or false claim about a product's effect on the
environment, companies that spend money on research and develop-
ment to bring improved products to the market end up losing sales
to less scrupulous competitors.  It is a concern not limited to
environmental claims, she said.  Unsubstantiated claims about
food, health and safety "can cause substantial and immediate
injury to consumers as well as to competition," she added.

     Discussing efforts to coordinate enforcement on federal,
state and local levels, Steiger said companies want to be treated
in a uniform manner across government jurisdictions and that
better intergovernmental coordination is needed to attack complex
frauds that cross state lines.

     Steiger's remarks reflect her own views and not necessarily
those of the Commission or any other Commissioner.  She spoke at
a joint meeting of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan
Dallas, Inc. and the Rotary Club of Dallas, at Grand Hall at
Union Station in Dallas.

     Copies of Chairman Steiger's remarks are available from the
FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsyl-
vania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY
1-866-653-4261.

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MEDIA CONTACT:      Bonnie Jansen, Office of Public Affairs
                    202-326-2161

(dallas)