The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") has just issued a notice that it plans to issue subpoena-like requests to parent companies of quick-serve restaurants and food/beverage manufacturers, as well as to manufacturers of breakfast cereals, snack foods, candy and gum, carbonated and noncarbonated beverages, frozen and chilled desserts, prepared meals, and dairy products. The data the FTC will be seeking will include: (1) the types of foods marketed to children and adolescents, (2) the types of media techniques used to market products to children and adolescents, (3) money spent to communicate to children and adolescents in both measured and unmeasured media, and (4) the amount of measured commercial advertising time purchased.
Currently, the FTC is requesting formal comments regarding (1) whether the proposed informational requests would have any practical utility and would be necessary for the FTC to perform its functions, (2) ways to enhance the quality and utility of the information collected, (3) how to minimize the burden of collecting the information sought, and (4) whether estimates provided by the FTC for time needed to make the responses are accurate.
Such comments are intended to educate the agency with concrete evidence of how these requests would impact a company's business operations, what such requests would entail, what internal procedures and practices would be affected by such requests, and how record management systems would deal with such requests. Given the FTC’s history with attempts to regulate childhood advertising, the first amendment/commercial speech issues presented, and the FTC’s reliance on self-regulatory methods, we believe that these comments will be reviewed with care by the Commission staff.
The FTC has issued a demand concerning the halt of document destruction. The Federal Register Notice says that "subsequent to this notice, any destruction, removal, mutilation, alteration, or falsification of documentary evidence that may be responsive to this information collection with the possession or control of a person, partnership, or corporation subject to the FTC Act may be subject to criminal prosecution."
Accordingly, those businesses related to food and beverage industries that market to consumers under the age of 18 must exercise immediate care and caution with respect to the document retention issues, and are counseled to adopt prudent risk management strategies given the current regulatory climate and dialogue.
This article is presented for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice.
