Assignment

Find passages containing answers to the given questions.

1. How can ad influence consumers?

2. Who is a smart buyer?

3. What is the difference between misleading ads and puffing?

Test 3 How law protect the consumer

in the USA

Congress has passed many consumer protection laws. These laws protect consumers in three ways. First, they prohibit unfair or misleading trade practices, such as false advertising, unfair pricing, or mislabeling. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, for example, requires that certain important information be listed on most food and drugs offered for sale.

Second, federal laws set standards for the quality, safety, and reliability of many goods and services. Failure to comply with these standards can result in legal action against the seller. For example, the Consumer Product Safety Act allows the government to ban, seize, or prevent the sale of harmful products.

Third, the federal government has established many agencies that enforce consumer laws and help consumers. For example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the power to prohibit unfair or deceptive trade practices (such as false advertising) and can take legal action to stop such practices.

The FTC also makes rules to improve the operation of the marketplace. These rules have the force of law. For example, the FTC recently issued a rule requiring eye doctors to give patients their prescriptions for eyeglasses at no extra cost after an examination. Before that rule was issued, some eye doctors, who also sold eyeglasses, had charged for a copy of the prescription. This discouraged their patients from shopping around for the best price for their eyeglasses.

States also have consumer protection laws and agencies. These laws often copy the Federal Trade Commission Act and make unfair and deceptive trade practices a violation of state law. State laws allow consumers to bring complaints into state court and before state agencies. They also enable agencies, such as the State Attorney General or the state Office of Consumer Affairs, to halt illegal practices.

Like federal consumer protection laws, state laws give the government power to stop unfair and deceptive practices and provide consumers with a variety of remedies. For example, some laws make consumer fraud a crime and subject the offender to fine or imprisonment. Other remedies include cease and desist orders*, by which an agency can require a business to stop a forbidden practice; consent decrees, which are voluntary agreements to end a practice that is claimed to be illegal; and restitution, which is an order to refund or repay any money illegally obtained. In some cases, consumers can join together to bring class actions**, which allow one or more persons to bring suit on behalf of a larger group.

Cities and counties also have consumer protection laws. These laws have been passed to deal with specific consumer issues that have arisen at a local level. For example, some cities have «truth-in-menus» laws. Under these laws, if the menu reads «fresh swordfish», the restaurant cannot serve previously frozen swordfish.

*cease - and - desist order / judgement - решение суда в соответствии с заключенным сторонами соглашением

**class action - групповой иск