National Consumers Week, 1997

Proclamation 7045 of October 24, 1997

National Consumers Week, 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.