In April 2004, the FTC voted to deny the request for a rulemaking proceeding regarding the Commission’s procedures in nonpublic investigations of health-related advertising.
The First Amendment Health Freedom Association, a coalition of manufacturers and consumers of dietary supplements, submitted the petition to the FTC requesting that the Commission
issue rules requiring the FTC staff, when investigating health-related advertising, to: (a) evaluate the scientific evidence before initiating the investigation; (b) identify the
specific advertising content that the staff considers to be misleading and the basis for that belief in the initial access letter or civil investigative demand (CID); (c) identify, at
the earliest possible point in the investigation, the specific grounds for the staff’s belief that the substantiation is inadequate; and (d) issue warning letters to advertisers
as a primary enforcement mechanism, rather than initiating formal investigations by access letter or CID. Click here for the FTC’s letter.
This page was posted on August 29, 2004.
