National Consumer Protection Week, 2000

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7272 of February 11, 2000

National Consumer Protection Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Americans have long enjoyed shopping from the comfort
of their homes. Door-to-door sales and mail-order
catalogs have given consumers the opportunity to choose
from a wide variety of products while saving precious
time for family and personal interests. As we move into
the digital age, the Internet and other information
technologies have made electronic commerce possible,
and on-line shopping is opening doors for consumers,
established retailers, and small entrepreneurs across
the Nation. With these opportunities, however, come
certain risks for home shoppers. Advances in
telecommunications and marketing technology bring new
opportunities for unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent
practices that target consumers where they live. It is
now easier than ever for perpetrators of fraud to reach
shoppers in their homes; consequently, it is more
important than ever that consumers know their rights,
understand the risks, and know to whom they can turn
for recourse.

While there are risks to home shopping, including
unwanted solicitations, ill-advised purchases, and
failure to deliver items purchased, consumers can
protect themselves against these dangers by taking
basic, commonsense precautions. Home shoppers should
ascertain the seller's location and reputation; give
out personal information only if they know who is
collecting it, why it is being collected, and how it
will be used; and report problems that they cannot
resolve with the vendor.

In order to protect consumers, the Federal Trade
Commission, the Department of Justice, the Consumer
Federation of America, the American Association of
Retired Persons, the National Association of Consumer
Agency Administrators, and the National Association of
Attorneys General have joined forces to inform
Americans about their rights as home shoppers, about
merchant responsibilities, and about how to enjoy
safely the benefits of shopping from home. This
information is available in writing, by telephone, and
on-line, helping to educate consumers about such issues
as how to stop unwanted telemarketing or mail-order
solicitations and when to provide private information
to an on-line business.

I encourage all Americans to take advantage of this
opportunity to learn more about safe shopping from
home. By becoming wise and well-informed consumers, we
can reduce the incidence of fraud and deception in the
marketplace.

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 the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim February 14 through
February 20, 2000, as National Consumer Protection
Week. I call upon government officials, industry
leaders, consumer advocates, and the American people to
participate in programs promoting safe and reliable
shopping from home and to raise public awareness about
the dangers of deceptive and fraudulent practices
targeting home shoppers.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord two
thousand, and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.