National Consumer Protection Week, 2024
| Published date | 06 March 2024 |
| Record Number | 2024-04876 |
| Citation | 89 FR 15949 |
| Court | Executive Office Of The President |
| Section | Presidential Documents |
Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 45 (Wednesday, March 6, 2024)
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 6, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 15949-15951]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04876] Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89 , No. 45 / Wednesday, March 6, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 15949]]
Proclamation 10707 of March 1, 2024
National Consumer Protection Week, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
As my Administration continues to build an economy that
works for everyone, we cannot let fraud, cybercrimes,
or unfair business practices interrupt the progress we
have made. During National Consumer Protection Week, we
recommit to protecting the rights of consumers and
spreading awareness about the resources people have to
defend themselves from predatory acts.
Since I took office, we have made enormous progress in
building an economy from the middle out and the bottom
up. To date, we have created nearly 15 million jobs,
driven stable economic growth, and brought down
inflation by two-thirds from its peak. Still, I know we
have more work to do to protect the progress we have
made by defending American consumers from unfair
business practices.
In my first year in office, I issued an Executive Order
on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which
directs and encourages Federal agencies to find ways to
address powerful corporations' use of their market
dominance to inflate prices of consumer goods and
services. These corporations are also decreasing the
quality of goods and services, deterring innovation,
and limiting job mobility. Since then, agencies across
the Federal Government have taken decisive action to
encourage competition and lower costs for American
households.
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) are cracking down on anticompetitive
mergers, price fixing and price gouging, and other
unfair practices that harm consumers. The Department of
Agriculture has joined the effort to enforce antitrust
and consumer protection laws in food and agriculture,
which not only protect American families but farmers as
well. At the same time, the FTC is working on a rule
that would, if finalized as proposed, put an end to
noncompete agreements, which restrict 30 million
workers from switching jobs, even if they have
opportunities that offer better pay and benefits. The
FTC is also engaged in a rulemaking that proposes to
require that companies make it as easy to cancel an
online enrollment as it was to sign up so you are not
left paying unwanted subscription fees because of a
difficult cancellation process. The FTC is working with
law enforcement to counter predatory student loan
scams, mortgage scams, and identity theft.
My Administration is fighting to eliminate hidden junk
fees that some banks, airlines, health care companies,
and other organizations use to rip off their customers.
Since 2021, 15 of the 20 largest banks have responded
to my call to stop charging customers for bounced
checks and reduce overdraft fees, saving Americans $5.5
billion annually in eliminated junk fees. The Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed a rule
that will slash credit card late fees from an average
of $31 when I took office to a new cap of $8, which
will save Americans more than $9 billion annually. The
CFPB is also taking steps to cut the average overdraft
fee by more than half, down from its typical amount of
over $30, a move that would save $150 per year for the
more than 20 million households that pay these fees.
The CFPB has also banned banks and credit unions from
charging fees for basic services, like checking an
account balance
[[Page 15950]]
or retrieving old bank records. In addition, it has
proposed a new rule that would make it easier for
customers to switch banks, encouraging them to compete
for customers based on the quality of their services.
The Department of Labor proposed a new rule that would,
if finalized as proposed, minimize junk fees in
retirement products by requiring financial advisers to
provide retirement advice in the best interest of the
saver. The Department of Health and Human Services and
the Department of the Treasury have proposed a rule
that would protect Americans from getting ripped off by
health plans offering junk insurance that discriminate
based on pre-existing conditions and trick consumers
into buying insurance that provides little or no
coverage when they need it most. Further, the
Department of Transportation has challenged airlines to
improve unfair business practices. Some airlines have
already responded by eliminating fees that charge
parents just to sit next to their child on a plane.
Many have also begun guaranteeing free rebooking and
reimbursement for hotels, meals, and ground
transportation if a flight cancellation or delay is the
airline's fault. Just last year, we saw the lowest rate
of flight cancellations in a decade.
The FTC has enhanced its translation resources to make
it easier for consumers to submit fraud reports and
learn how to spot and avoid scams in languages other
than English. Meanwhile, we are continuing to work with
partners across the Government and in our communities
to amplify and expand language access for consumers.
Last year, the FTC proposed a rule that would ban
hidden fees across the economy and require all
companies to show consumers the all-in pricing of
products upfront.
The American people should never be played like
suckers. It is up to each of us to protect one another
from harmful anticompetitive business practices. This
National Consumer Protection Week, I encourage every
American to visit consumer.ftc.gov to learn more about
the resources available to defend the rights of
consumers. I also encourage people to report cases of
suspected fraud, issues with a consumer financial
product, aggressive debt collection, inaccurate credit
reporting, or unfair medical billing and other issues
by visiting consumerfinance.gov/complaint online.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 March 3, 2024,
through March 9, 2024, as National Consumer Protection
Week. I call upon government officials, industry
leaders, and advocates across the Nation to share
information about consumer protection and provide our
citizens with information about their rights as
consumers.
[[Page 15951]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
first day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-04876
Filed 3-5-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
