[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 44 (Monday, November 3, 1997)]
[Pages 1657-1658]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7045--National Consumers Week, 1997

October 24, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Americans have always had a passion for fairness. It imbues the 
great charters on which our Nation is founded, and it is the cornerstone 
of our legal system. Fairness must also form the foundation of the 
American economy, an economy in which consumers rightly expect a ``fair 
shake'': honest transactions and safe, dependable goods and services.
    Our economy has changed enormously during the past 200 years, 
developing from the agrarian system of the 18th century through the 
Industrial Revolution of the 19th century to the information revolution 
of our own era. Today, technological innovation is rapidly transforming 
our relationships with the marketplace and the goods and services we 
buy. However, despite these dramatic changes, basic consumer values 
remain the same. Consumers still expect quality and service for their 
money; they still place great importance on the safety and reliability 
of the products they buy; and they still want to know that businesses 
will meet these expectations.
    In the days of Adam Smith, when products were less complicated and 
their quality more easily discerned, caveat emptor was the ruling 
principle of the marketplace. In today's economy, where the microchip 
has dramatically altered what we buy and how and where we buy it, 
products and services are much more complex, and consumers need better 
information and greater protection to ensure that the marketplace 
continues to treat them fairly.
    The Consumer Bill of Rights, first articulated in President 
Kennedy's 1962 Special Message to Congress on Protecting the Consumer 
Interest, has evolved with our economy to meet the changing needs of the 
American people. Consumers today have the right to safety, the right to 
information, the right to choice, the right to be heard, the right to 
consumer education, and the right to service. They also deserve security 
for any personal information provided during the conduct of a 
transaction, whether in person or on the Internet. As we observe 
National Consumer Week, I urge the American people to learn more about 
their rights as responsible consumers and to reward those businesses 
that continue to give them a fair shake.
    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 laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 
25 through October 31, 1997, as National Consumers Week. I call upon 
government officials, industry leaders, and the American people to 
recognize the vital relationship between our economy and our citizenry, 
and to join me in reaffirming our commitment to fairness in the 
marketplace.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 
day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:25 a.m., October 27, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
28. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.

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