Announced Actions for October 27, 2000

The Commission has approved the publication of a Federal Register notice regarding the following: Information Sharing with Canadian and Australian Law Enforcement Authorities. As explained in the notice, the Commission has delegated to the Bureau of Consumer Protection's Associate Director for Planning and Information (with authority to re-delegate to individual regional directors, when appropriate) the authority to share certain nonpublic information with Canadian law enforcement agencies regarding consumer protection investigations that involve Canadian companies or consumers. The Commission has also delegated to the Associate Director for Planning and Information the authority to share certain nonpublic information with Australian law enforcement authorities regarding consumer protection investigations that involve Australian companies or consumers. Neither delegation applies to competition investigations. Also, neither delegation permits sharing of information subject to statutory restrictions on disclosure. The Commission vote to publish the Federal Register notice was 5-0. (File No. P994313; staff contact is Maneesha Mithal, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-2771; see related press release dated July 20, 2000.)

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 at www.ftc.gov. 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.

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