The Council is composed of 12 members, one from each Federal Reserve district, being selected annually by the Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of the district. The Council is required to meet in Washington, DC, at least four times each year, and more often if called by the Board of Governors.

Consumer Advisory Council

The Consumer Advisory Council confers with the Board of Governors several times each year on the Board's responsibilities in the field of consumer credit protection. The Council was established by Congress in 1976 at the suggestion of the Board and replaced the Advisory Committee on Truth in Lending that was established by the 1968 Truth in Lending Act.

The Council is composed of 30 members from all parts of the country. It advises the Board on its responsibilities under such laws as Truth in Lending, Equal Credit Opportunity, and Home Mortgage Disclosure.

Thrift Institutions Advisory Council The Thrift Institutions Advisory Council is an advisory group established by the Board in 1980 made up of

representatives from nonbank depository thrift institutions, which includes savings and loans, mutual savings bankers, and credit unions. The Council meets at least four times each year with the Board of Governors to discuss developments relating to thrift institutions, the housing industry and mortgage finance, and certain regulatory issues.

Sources of Information

Employment Written inquiries regarding employment should be addressed to the Director, Division of Personnel, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551.

Procurement Firms seeking business with the Board should address their inquiries to the Director, Division of Support Services, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC 20551.

Publications Among the publications issued by the Board are The Federal Reserve System-Purposes and Functions, and a series of pamphlets including Guide to Business Credit and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act; Consumer Handbook; Making Deposits: When Will Your Money Be Available; and When Your Home Is On the Line: What You Should Know About Home Equity Lines of Credit. Copies of these pamphlets are available free of charge. Information regarding publications may be obtained in Room MP-510 (Martin Building) of the Board's headquarters. Phone, 202-452-3244.

Reading Room A reading room where persons may inspect records that are available to the public is located in Room B-1122 at the Board's headquarters, Twentieth Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC. Information regarding the

availability of records may be obtained by calling 202-452-3684.

Chairman

JAMES H. ATKINS

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board was established as an independent agency by the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 (5 U.S.C. 8472). The act vests responsibility for the agency in six named fiduciaries: the five Board members and the Executive Director. The five members of the Board, one of whom is designated as Chairman, are appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate and serve on the Board on a part-time basis. The members appoint the Executive Director, who is responsible for the management of the agency and the Plan. Activities

The Thrift Savings Plan is a tax-deferred, defined contribution plan that was

established as one of the three parts of the Federal Employees' Retirement System. For employees covered under the System, savings accumulated through the Plan make an important addition to the retirement benefits provided by Social Security and the System's Basic Annuity. Civil Service Retirement System employees may also take advantage of the Plan to supplement their annuities.

The Board operates the Thrift Savings Plan and manages the investments of the Thrift Savings Fund solely for the benefit of participants and their beneficiaries. As part of these responsibilities, the Board maintains an account for each Plan participant, makes loans, purchases annuity contracts, and provides for the payment of benefits.

Chairman

Executive Assistant

ROBERT PITOFSKY

JAMES C. HAMILL

The purpose of the Federal Trade Commission is expressed in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 4158) and the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12), both passed in 1914 and both successively amended in the years since. The Federal Trade Commission Act prohibits the use in or affecting commerce of "unfair methods of competition" and "unfair or deceptive acts or practices." The Clayton Act outlaws specific practices recognized as instruments of monopoly. As an independent administrative agency, acting quasi-judicially and quasilegislatively, the Commission was established to deal with trade practices on a continuing and corrective basis. It has no authority to punish; its function is to prevent, through cease-and-desist orders and other means, those practices condemned by Federal trade regulation laws. However, court-ordered civil penalties up to $10,000 may be obtained for each violation of a

Commission order or trade regulation rule.

Congress has delegated a variety of duties to the Commission under such statutes as the Wheeler-Lea Act, the Clayton Act, the Consumer Credit Protection Act, the Robinson-Patman Act, the Magnuson-Moss WarrantyFederal Trade Commission Improvement Act, the Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act of 1980, the Smokeless Tobacco Health Education Act of 1986, the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act, the Federal Trade Commission Improvements Act of 1994, the International Antitrust Enforcement Assistance Act of 1994, the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act Amendments of 1994.

The Commission is composed of five members. Each member is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of 7

years. Not more than three of the Commissioners may be members of the same political party. One Commissioner is designated by the President as Chairman of the Commission and is responsible for its administrative management.

Activities

The Commission's principal functions are to:

-promote competition in or affecting commerce through the prevention of general trade restraints such as pricefixing agreements, boycotts, illegal combinations of competitors, and other unfair methods of competition;

-safeguard the public by preventing the dissemination of false or deceptive advertisements of consumer products and services generally, and food, drug, cosmetics, and therapeutic devices, particularly, as well as other unfair or deceptive practices;

-prevent pricing discrimination; exclusive-dealing and tying arrangements; corporate mergers, acquisitions, or joint ventures, when such practices or arrangements may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly; interlocking directorates or officers' positions that may restrain competition; the payment or receipt of illegal brokerage; and discrimination among competing customers in the furnishing of or the payment for services or facilities used to promote the resale of a product; -enjoin various fraudulent telemarketing schemes;

-ensure truthful labeling of textile, wool, and fur products;

-regulate packaging and labeling of certain consumer commodities within the purview of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act so as to prevent consumer deception and to facilitate value comparisons;

-supervise the registration and operation of associations of American exporters engaged in export trade;

-achieve accurate credit cost disclosure by consumer creditors (retailers, finance companies, non

Federal credit unions, and other creditors

not specifically regulated by another Government agency) as called for in the Truth in Lending Act to ensure a meaningful basis for informed credit decisions, and to regulate the issuance of and liability for the use of credit cards so as to prohibit their fraudulent use in or affecting commerce;

-protect consumers against circulation of inaccurate or obsolete credit reports and ensure that consumer reporting agencies, credit grantors, and bill collectors exercise their

responsibilities in a manner that is fair and equitable and in conformity with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; and

-gather and make available to the Congress, the President, and the public, factual data concerning economic and business conditions.

Enforcement The Commission's law enforcement work falls into two general categories: actions to foster voluntary compliance with the law, and formal administrative or Federal court litigation leading to mandatory orders against offenders.

For the most part, compliance with the law is obtained through voluntary and cooperative action by way of staff advice, which is not binding on the Commission; advisory opinions by the Commission; and through issuance of guides and policy statements delineating legal requirements as to particular business practices.

Formal litigation is instituted either by issuance of an administrative complaint or by filing a Federal district court complaint charging a person, partnership, or corporation with violating one or more of the statutes administered by the Commission. Cases may be settled by consent orders. If the charges in an administrative matter are not contested, or if the charges are found to be true after an administrative hearing in a contested case, an order may be issued requiring discontinuance of the unlawful practices. Such orders may include other related requirements. Federal district court charges are resolved through either