[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 43 (Monday, October 28, 1996)]
[Pages 2128-2129]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6945--National Consumers Week, 1996

October 21, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    This year's theme for National Consumers Week is ``service signals 
success.'' Service is an indispensable element of success over the long 
term in both business and government:

[[Page 2129]]

service that is responsive, convenient, and courteous, service that 
meets the expectations of consumers and taxpayers. Clever promotions and 
deceptive pricing may generate short-term profits in business. Promises 
alone may gain brief support for Government agencies and programs. But 
American consumers and taxpayers aren't easily deceived. They expect 
quality service, and those who cannot or do not provide it will 
ultimately fail.
    That is why I added the right to service to the Consumer Bill of 
Rights. It is why we have made the reinvention of government--requiring 
more responsiveness and efficiency--a keystone of my Administration. It 
is why I issued an Executive Order that directed all executive 
departments and agencies of the Federal Government to embark upon a 
revolution to change the way they do business and establish and 
implement customer service standards that match or exceed the best in 
the private sector. And it is why our policies continue to emphasize the 
paramount importance of service excellence to the success of our Nation, 
our economy, and our efforts to compete in the global marketplace.
    The goal of service excellence is not easy to attain. Consumers must 
demand it, and everyone in an organization, be it a business or a 
government agency, must be committed to it, both in everyday 
interactions and in longer-term goals. Their ultimate success depends on 
it.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim 
October 20 through October 26, 1996, as National Consumers Week. I call 
upon government officials, industry leaders, and the people of the 
United States to recognize the vital relationship between our economy 
and our citizenry and to support the right of all Americans to 
excellence in products and services.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first 
day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:47 a.m., October 22, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
23.