Announced Actions for April 6, 2001

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following actions:

Publication of Federal Register notice:

The Commission has authorized the publication of a Federal Register notice regarding the following: Continued Publication of the FTC's Reports on Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco. As detailed in the notice, which will be published shortly, for many years the Commission has issued statutorily required reports to Congress on domestic sales and advertising and promotional expenditures for cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products within the United States. These reports are no longer mandated, and the FTC is now seeking public comments to help it determine whether to continue to issue reports on the sales, advertising and promotion of these products, as well as the formats for any such reports. Written comments must be submitted within 60 days of the date the Federal Register notice is published. Five copies of each comment should be sent to: Secretary, Federal Trade Commission, Room 159, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Comments may also be submitted on disk, in the manner explained in the notice, or by e-mail at: cigarette&smokelesstobaccoreports@ftc.gov. The Commission vote to authorize publication of the Federal Register notice was 5-0. (FTC File No. P014507; staff contact is Michael Ostheimer, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-2699.)

Release of Commission report:

The Commission has authorized staff to publicly release the following: Federal Trade Commission Performance Report for Fiscal Year 2000. The Fiscal Year 2000 Report is the second performance report required under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). The Report supplements the Commission's five-year Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2000-2005, which was approved September 2000. The agency's Performance Plans implement the Commission's strategic goals by establishing annual performance targets. The Performance Report compares and evaluates each year's actual performance to the established targets set forth in the Performance Plan. The Commission vote to release the report was 5-0. (FTC File No. P859900; staff contact is Henry Hoffman, FTC Chief Financial Officer, 202-326-2664.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies worldwide.