Agency Regulation of Marketing Practices

Background

The electronic retailing industry strongly supports appropriate actions to protect consumers from fraudulent, deceptive and unfair marketing practices. ERA members also favor - and are actively involved in - self-regulation and educational activities to promote awareness and use of fair marketing practices. It is vital that these agencies pursue enforcement in an even-handed manner that not only protects consumers from unscrupulous marketers, but also makes cost-effective use of limited enforcement resources and preserves a level playing field where businesses can compete fairly to offer the best products and services at the lowest prices. If these agencies focus a disproportionate amount of their limited resources on just a few companies that use direct response advertising to sell products on television, by telephone and on the Internet, it short-changes consumer protection, creates an uneven competitive playing field, and imposes excessive costs on businesses and consumers.

ERA believes that in exercising its oversight responsibilities Congress should ensure that federal consumer protection agencies utilize their scarce investigative and enforcement resources in ways that maximize consumer protection, promote electronic commerce and provide a level playing field for competition. ERA recommends that Congress encourage these resource-constrained agencies to target the most flagrant and abusive marketing practices, rather than responsible companies that simply have a higher profile or companies that have demonstrated a commitment to compliance. Further, ERA believes that Congress should encourage agencies to promote fair competition and allow the growth of electronic commerce by applying its standards equally to marketers in all channels. ERA continues to work with regulatory agencies to improve dialogue and provide information to ensure that additional scrutiny is not placed on the e-commerceindustry unnecessarily.