Markets Wired

The Federal Trade Commission plans to begin a study of the self-regulatory efforts of the alcoholic beverage industry.  This will serve as the basis for the FTC’s fourth major report on the effectiveness of voluntary industry guidelines for reducing advertising and marketing to underage audiences by beer, wine, and distilled spirits manufacturers.  The first report was published in 1999.

The FTC is seeking clearance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect information from the alcohol companies, which is the first step toward conducting the study.  It has published a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on the proposed collection of data from these companies. The topics the FTC seeks comment on include:

• the companies’ compliance with voluntary advertising placement provisions, sales, and marketing expenditures;
• the status of third-party review of complaints regarding compliance with voluntary advertising codes; and
• alcohol industry data-collection practices.

The comments will be considered before the FTC submits a request for OMB review of the proposal under the Paperwork Reduction Act.  Comments must be received on or before April 26, 2011.

The Commission vote approving publication of the Federal Register notice was 5-0. A copy of the notice can be found as a link to this press release and on the FTC’s website. (FTC File No. P114503; the staff contacts in the Bureau of Consumer Protection are Janet M. Evans, 202-326-2125, and Carolyn L. Hann, 202-326-2745.)

Copies of the document mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s website at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.  Call toll-free:  1-877-FTC-HELP.