El Portal Luggage, Inc.; Proposed Consent Agreement With Analysis To Aid Public Comment

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 932 3168]

El Portal Luggage, Inc.; Proposed Consent Agreement With Analysis

To Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.

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SUMMARY: In settlement of alleged violations of federal law prohibiting

unfair acts and practices and unfair methods of competition, this

consent agreement, accepted subject to final Commission approval, would

prohibit, among other things, a Nevada-based retailer of leather goods

from misrepresenting the identity of the country of origin of any

product it sells, and from removing, altering, obliterating, or

concealing any country of origin designation attached to a product that

it receives or offers for sale.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 3, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be directed to: FTC/Office of the Secretary,

room 159, 6th St. and Pa. Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20580.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sylvia Kundig, FTC/San Francisco Regional Office, 901 Market St., suite

570, San Francisco, CA 94103. (415) 744-7920.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal

Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C. 46 and Sec. 2.34 of the

Commission's Rules of Practice (16 CFR 2.34), notice is hereby given

that the following consent agreement containing a consent order to

cease and desist, having been filed with and accepted, subject to final

approval, by the Commission, has been placed on the public record for a

period of sixty (60) days. Public comment is invited. Such comments or

views will be considered by the Commission and will be available for

inspection and copying at its principal office in accordance with

Sec. 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of the Commission's Rules of Practice (16 CFR

4.9(b)(6)(ii)).

Agreement Containing Consent Order To Cease and Desist

The Federal Trade Commission having initiated an investigation of

certain acts and practices of El Portal Luggage, Inc., a corporation,

and it now appears that El Portal Luggage Inc., a corporation,

hereinafter sometimes referred to as proposed respondent, is willing to

enter into an agreement containing an order to cease and desist from

the use of the acts and practices being investigated.

It is hereby agreed by and between El Portal Luggage, Inc., by its

duly authorized officer, and its attorney, and counsel for the Federal

Trade Commission that:

1. Proposed respondent El Portal Luggage, Inc. is a corporation

organized, existing and doing business under and by virtue of the laws

of the State of Nevada, with its office and principal place of business

located at 4432 Aldebaran Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89103.

2. Proposed respondent admits all the jurisdictional facts set

forth in the draft complaint here attached.

3. Proposed respondent waives:

(a) Any further procedural steps;

(b) The requirement that the Commission's decision contain a

statement of findings of fact and conclusions of law;

(c) All rights to seek judicial review or otherwise to challenge or

contest the validity of the order entered pursuant to this agreement;

and

(d) Any claim under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

4. This agreement shall not become part of the public record of the

proceeding unless and until it is accepted by the Commission. If this

agreement is accepted by the Commission, it, together with the draft of

complaint contemplated thereby, will be placed on the public record for

a period of sixty (60) days and information in respect thereto publicly

released. The Commission thereafter may either withdraw its acceptance

of this agreement and so notify the proposed respondent, in which event

it will take such action as it may consider appropriate, or issue and

serve its complaint (in such form as the circumstances may require) and

decision, in disposition of the proceeding.

5. This agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not

constitute an admission by the proposed respondent of facts, other than

jurisdictional facts, or of violations of law as alleged in the draft

of complaint here attached.

6. This agreement contemplates that, if it is accepted by the

Commission, and if such acceptance is not subsequently withdrawn by the

Commission pursuant to the provisions of Sec. 2.34 of the Commission's

Rules, the Commission may, without further notice to proposed

respondent, (1) issue its complaint corresponding in form and substance

with the draft of complaint here attached and its decision containing

the following order to cease and desist in disposition of the

proceeding and (2) make information public in respect thereto. When so

entered, the order to cease and desist shall have the same force and

effect and may be altered, modified or set aside in the same manner and

within the same time provided by statute for other orders. The order

shall become final upon service. Delivery by the U.S. Postal Service of

the complaint and decision containing the agreed-to order to proposed

respondent's address as stated in this agreement shall constitute

service. Proposed respondent waives any right it may have to any other

manner of service. The complaint may be used in construing the terms of

the order, and no agreement, understanding, representation, or

interpretation not contained in the order or the agreement may be used

to vary or contradict the terms of the order.

7. Proposed respondent has read the proposed complaint and order

contemplated hereby. It understands that once the order has been

issued, it will be required to file one or more compliance reports

showing that it has fully complied with the order. Proposed respondent

further understands that it may be liable for civil penalties in the

amount provided by law for each violation of the order after it becomes

final.

Order

I

It is ordered that respondent, El Portal Luggage, Inc., a

corporation, its successors and assigns, and its officers, and

respondent's agents, representatives and employees, directly or through

any corporation, subsidiary, division or other device, in connection

with the labelling, advertising, promotion, offering for sale, sale or

distribution of any product in or affecting commerce, as ``commerce''

is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, do forthwith cease and

desist from misrepresenting, in any manner, directly or by implication,

the identify of the country-of-origin of any product.

II

It is further ordered that respondent, El Portal Luggage, Inc., a

corporation, its successors and assigns, and its officers, and

respondent's agents, representatives and employees, directly or through

any corporation, subsidiary, division or other device, in connection

with the offering for sale, sale or distribution of any product in or

affecting commerce, as ``commerce'' is defined in the Federal Trade

Commission Act, do forthwith cease and desist from removing, altering,

obliterating, or concealing any country-of-origin designation that is

on or attached to any product that respondent receives and offers for

sale.

III

It is further ordered that for five (5) years after the last date

of dissemination of any representation covered by this Order,

respondents, or its successors and assigns, shall maintain and upon

request make available to the Federal Trade Commission for inspection

and copying all materials that were relied on in disseminating such

representations.

IV

It is further ordered that the respondent shall:

A. Within thirty (30) days after the date of service of this Order,

provide a copy of this Order to each of its current directors and

officers, and to each employee, agent, and representative having any

sales, advertising, or policy responsibility with respect to the

subject matter of this Order, and obtain from each such person a signed

statement acknowledging receipt of this Order; and

B. For ten (10) years from the date of issuance of this Order,

provide a copy of this Order to each of its directors and officers, and

to each employee, agent, and representative having any sales,

advertising, or policy responsibility with respect to the subject

matter of this Order, within fifteen (15) days after such person

commences his or her duties, and obtain from each such person a signed

statement acknowledging receipt of this Order.

V

It is further ordered that respondent shall notify the Commission,

at least thirty (30) days prior to any proposed change in the

respondent such as dissolution, assignment, or sale resulting in the

emergence of a successor corporation, the creation or dissolution of

subsidiaries, or any other change in the corporation that may affect

compliance obligations arising out of the Order.

VI

It is further ordered that respondent shall, within sixty (60) days

after the date of service of this Order upon it and at such other times

as the Commission may require, file with the Commission a report, in

writing, setting forth in detail the manner and form in which it has

complied with this Order.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

The Federal Trade Commission has accepted an agreement to a

proposed Consent Order from El Portal Luggage, Inc.

The proposed Consent Order has been placed on the public record for

sixty (60) days for receipt of comments by interested persons. Comments

received during this period will become part of the public record.

After sixty (60) days, the Commission will again review the agreement

and the comments received and will decide whether it should withdraw

from the agreement and take other appropriate action, or make final the

proposed Order contained in the agreement.

This matter concerns the misrepresentation of the country-of-origin

of certain luggage products of foreign manufacture that the proposed

respondent offers for sale. The Commission's proposed Complaint alleges

that some of the goods that El Portal Luggage, Inc. offers for sale are

foreign-made, and that when El Portal Luggage, Inc. receives these

goods they have labels attached that indicate the country-of-origin.

The proposed complaint further alleges that El Portal Luggage, Inc.

deliberately removed the country-of-origin labels during a period when

El Portal's window and in-store signage emphasized that many of the

products it offered for sale were of domestic manufacture. Finally, the

proposed Complaint alleges that these activities represented, directly

or by implication, that the goods without foreign-origin labels were

manufactured in the United States. The representation is alleged to

violate section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45,

because the goods with the labels removed were not manufactured in the

United States.

The proposed Consent Order prohibits the proposed respondent from

misrepresenting, directly or by implication, the identity of the

country-of-origin of any product. It also prohibits the proposed

respondent from removing, altering, obliterating, or concealing any

country-of-origin designation that is attached to any product the

proposed respondent receives and offers for sale.

Finally, the proposed Consent Order contains provisions requiring

record retention demonstrating compliance with the Order; distribution

of the Order to employees; notification to the Commission of any

changes in the structure of the corporation; and reports to the

Commission demonstrating compliance with the terms of the Order.

The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment of the

proposed Order. It is not intended to constitute an official

interpretation of the agreement and proposed Order or to modify in any

way their terms.

Donald S. Clark,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 94-7974 Filed 4-1-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6750-01-M