Welcome to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2013 Annual Highlights. As many of you know, 2014 is a special year for the Federal Trade Commission as we mark 100 years since President Woodrow Wilson signed the FTC Act into law. We are commemorating our centennial by reflecting on our history of promoting honest business practices and robust competition in the marketplace, as well as focusing on the agency’s exciting future.
The hallmark of our work has been, and will continue to be, our ability to adapt established tools — law enforcement, policy initiatives and education — to address economic challenges and technological advances that Congress could never have imagined when it created the FTC. In these Highlights, you will find an overview of our agency’s major initiatives and achievements for calendar year 2013. Our accomplishments include:
- Important law enforcement work to promote competition and protect consumers in key sectors of our economy — health care, technology, energy and the environment, and a variety of consumer services — and to stop consumer fraud and enforce orders;
- Research and policy initiatives to advance government policies that promote competition, better understand the dynamics of evolving markets and inform the agency’s work protecting consumers in an increasingly digital and mobile world;
- International cooperation and collaboration to promote sound competition enforcement and protect consumers in the global marketplace; and
- Creative and practical strategies to educate consumers and businesses about their rights and responsibilities.
As we highlight the successes of the last year, my fellow Commissioners — Julie Brill, Maureen Ohlhausen, and Joshua Wright — and I thank the FTC’s talented staff for their dedication and unstinting work serving the American public. In this historic year, I am honored to lead the agency as we look back on the FTC’s impressive history and embark on our next century of service on behalf of American consumers.
Edith Ramirez, Chairwoman