Business Law Discussion 6

Discussion 6

Administrative agencies are a powerful subset of the government other than the legislatives and the courts. The different independent agencies are the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), and FCC (Federal Communications Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission. Among them the FTC is the most powerful and their duty is to protect consumers and promote competition. In order to achieve their duty and develop policy and research tools through hearings, workshops, and conferences.

In order for the FTC to protect its consumers in the market place it has to make sure to stop unfair, deceptive or fraudulent practices. The FTC conducts investigations, sues corporations and people violating the law, develop new laws, and educates businesses of their responsibilities. Another duty for the FTC is that they collect false information from advertisement and stop it from spreading. The key role for the FTC is to make sure of fair competition and innovation by making sure business practice anticompetitive practices.

An example of all this will be the when the FTC filed a lawsuit against DeVry University. In this case, DeVry University published advertisements on TV, radio, online, print and other media claiming to consumers that 90% of DeVry University graduates will get a job in the field which they have decided to study and also that students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from DeVry University had a 15% higher chance of earning more than a student graduating with a bachelor from any other university. The U.S. Department of Education also got involved and also put a stop to DeVry University’s false advertising. DeVry University has violated the FTC Act. and the FTC used the court to make DeVry University readdress the consumers and stopped the institution from violating any other FTC Act.

The FTC like other regulators is in place to promote fair practices. Think of it as a referee in a sports game with two teams. They make sure everyone is...