[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 15, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S9281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION REAUTHORIZATION ACT

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate has agreed by 
unanimous consent to pass a substitute amendment to the Federal Trade 
Commission Reauthorization Act, S. 1234. The bill would reauthorize the 
Federal Trade Commission in furtherance of its mission to enhance the 
efficient operation of the marketplace by both eliminating acts or 
practices that are unfair or deceptive and preventing anti-competitive 
conduct. Further, the legislation would authorize funding for the FTC 
through 2008, and enhance the Commission's ability to combat 
international--or cross-border--fraud.
  In addition to reauthorizing this vital consumer protection agency 
for the period 2005 through 2008, the bill, as amended, is also 
designed to mitigate the challenges that the FTC increasingly faces in 
combating cross-border fraud. The FTC's consumer protection 
responsibilities are essential, particularly in today's global climate 
of high-speed information and marketing, which know no international 
borders.
  This legislation is crucial to the FTC's ability to protect American 
consumers by authorizing the Commission to: Share information involving 
cross-border fraud with foreign consumer protection agencies; secure 
confidential information from those foreign agencies; work in 
conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice to seek redress for 
American consumers in foreign courts; make criminal referrals to the 
DOJ for cross-border criminal activity; and generally strengthen its 
relationship with foreign consumer protection agencies.
  Under the FTC's current authority the agency is not able to exchange 
information with its foreign counterparts to shut down consumer scams 
originating outside the United States, but perpetrated against American 
consumers. As a consequence, the FTC is left without the ability to 
seek redress on behalf of defrauded consumers. In addition, the FTC is 
not currently considered a ``market regulator,'' and thus, banking 
agencies may not share suspicious consumer information with the FTC. As 
a result, the FTC is not able to trade funds derived from illegal 
Internet schemes sent through U.S. banks and placed in offshore bank 
accounts. Thus, those who devise and carry out such schemes are too 
often allowed to escape the grasp of the FTC. But even if the FTC were 
able to share information with its foreign counterparts and market 
regulators, the FTC would be unable to litigate consumer protection 
cases in foreign courts.
  While these are descriptions of merely a few gaps in the FTC's 
current international consumer protection authority, they underscore 
how vulnerable American consumers are to cross-border fraud. This 
legislation would fill these and other gaps in the FTC's current 
international consumer protection authority, and allow the FTC to 
function more effectively in carrying out its Congressional mandate to 
protect American consumers.
  This bill, as amended, would also grant authority to the FTC to 
provide investigative and other services to a requesting domestic law 
enforcement agency and receive from that agency, if offered, 
reimbursement for the FTC's involvement. Finally, the amendment would 
provide to the Commission the authority it has requested to receive 
gifts or items that would be useful to the Commission as long as a 
conflict of interest is not created by such receipt.
  The underlying bill was considered and reported unanimously last year 
by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Since 
being placed on the Senate Calendar, its provisions have been 
thoroughly vetted on a bipartisan basis with the multiple federal 
agencies that have a vested interest in its enactment. We have worked 
with and received sign off from each affected agency on this substitute 
amendment.

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