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The Federal Trade Commission today announced the agenda for its first public roundtable on its self-assessment initiative, ‘FTC at 100: Into Our Second Century.’ The roundtable will be held in Washington, DC, on July 29-30, 2008, and attended by, among others, current and former agency commissioners, bureau directors, other senior staff members; academics; private practitioners; and representatives of other law enforcement agencies. The event, which will open with remarks by FTC Chairman William E. Kovacic, is a step toward understanding what the FTC must do “to continue the valuable work the agency performs today” and “to identify steps we must take to do still better in the future.”

Announced in mid-June at the 21st Annual Western Conference of the Rutgers University Center for Research in Regulated Industries, the FTC at 100 initiative stems from the idea that, according to the Chairman, “There is no substitute for the agency’s own sustained efforts to get things right.” The Commission’s 100th anniversary is in 2014, and the over-arching goal of the self-assessment is to “revisit fundamental questions about the possibilities for improvement” prior to then, to enable the FTC to be the strongest possible agency at this historic juncture.

The sessions on July 29-30 will be composed of a series of panels designed to examine: 1) the FTC’s Mission, Structure, and Resources, 2) the Deployment of Agency Resources in the Enforcement Area, 3) the Deployment of Agency Resources in the Policy Research and Development Areas, 4) the Agency’s External Relationships, 5) Characteristics of a Successful Government Agency, 6) the Effectiveness of the FTC’s Competition Mission, 7) the Effectiveness of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Mission, and 8) How to Measure the Welfare Effects of the FTC’s Competition and Consumer Protection Efforts.

The first panel, on the agency’s mission, structure, and resources, will be moderated by Chairman Kovacic. The remaining panels will be moderated by current FTC senior staff, including the deputy director of the Bureau of Competition, the director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, the director of the Office of Policy Planning, the director of the Bureau of Economics, and the directors of the Offices of Public Affairs and Congressional Relations.

The panels will include a range of former FTC commissioners and senior staff members, who will bring their experiences to bear on the many topics at hand. Panelists scheduled to attend include, but are not limited to: former Chairman Timothy J. Muris; former Commissioner Thomas B. Leary; former Bureau of Competition Directors Susan A. Creighton, Richard Parker, and William Baer; former Bureau of Consumer Protection Directors Jodie Bernstein and William C. MacLeod and former Deputy Bureau of Consumer Protection Director C. Lee Peeler; former Bureau of Economics Directors Michael A. Salinger and Luke M. Froeb; former Office of Policy Planning Director Susan S. DeSanti; former Office of Congressional Relations Director Anna H. Davis; and former General Counsel Stephen Calkins.

Logistics

The FTC’s public roundtable will be held from 8:30 a.m. until 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, July 29 and from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30 at the FTC’s satellite building conference center, located at 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. A government-issued photo ID is required for entry. Pre-registration is not required. Members of the public and press who cannot attend can view a live webcast of the workshop on the FTC’s Web site by connecting to: http://htc-01.media.globix.net/COMP008760MOD1/ftc_web/FTCindex.html.

Reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. Requests for such accommodations should be submitted via e-mail to jplonowski@ftc.gov
or by calling Julia Plonowski at 202-326-2289. Such requests should include a detailed description of the accommodations needed and a way to contact you if we need more information. Please provide advance notice.

For more information on the FTC at 100 Roundtable, including directions to the conference center, the complete agenda, and other relevant information, please visit: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/07/ftc100agenda.pdf.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,500 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.