US Consumer Protection

United States

Consumer protection reports laws often mandate the posting of notices, such as this one which appears in all automotive repair shops in California .Consumer reports .

In the United States a variety of laws at both the federal and state levels regulate consumer affairs. Among them are the federal Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Truth in Lending Act, Fair Credit Billing Act, and the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act. Federal consumer protection laws are mainly enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Justice.

At the state level, many states have adopted the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act including, but not limited to, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, and Nebraska. The deceptive trade practices prohibited by the Uniform Act can be roughly subdivided into conduct involving either a) unfair or fraudulent business practice and b) untrue or misleading advertising. The Uniform Act contains a private remedy with attorneys fees for prevailing parties where the losing party "willfully engaged in the trade practice knowing it to be deceptive". Uniform Act §(b). Missouri has a similar statute called the Merchandising Practices Act. This statute allows local prosecutors or the Attorney General to press charges against people who knowingly use deceptive business practices in a consumer transaction and authorizes consumers to hire a private attorney to bring an action seeking their actual damages, punitive damages, and attorney's fees.

Also, the majority of states have a Department of Consumer Affairs devoted to regulating certain industries and protecting consumer _ consumer reports, consumer cellular and consumers energy _ s who use goods and services from those industries.[9] For example, in California, the California Department of Consumer Affairs regulates about 2.3 million professionals in over 230 different professions, through its forty regulatory entities. In addition, California encourages its consumer _ consumer reports, consumer cellular and consumers energy _ s to act as private attorneys general through the liberal provisions of its Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

California has the strongest consumer _ consumer reports, consumer cellular and consumers energy _ protection laws of any US state, partly because of rigorous advocacy and lobbying by groups such as Utility consumer _ consumer reports, consumer cellular and consumers energy _ s' Action Network, consumer _ consumer reports, consumer cellular and consumers energy _ Federation of California, and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. For example, California provides for "cooling off" periods giving consumers the right to cancel contracts within a certain time period for several specified types of transactions, such as home secured transactions, and warranty and repair services contracts.

Other states have been the leaders in specific aspects of consumer _ consumer reports, consumer cellular and consumers energy _ protection. For example, Florida, Delaware, and Minnesota have legislated requirements that contracts be written at reasonable readability levels as a large proportion of contracts cannot be understood by most consumers who sign them.