Presidential Documents

56047

Federal Register

Vol. 62, No. 208

Tuesday, October 28, 1997

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7045 of October 24, 1997

National Consumers Week, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Americans have always had a passion for fairness. It imbues the great

charters on which our Nation is founded, and it is the cornerstone of

our legal system. Fairness must also form the foundation of the American

economy, an economy in which consumers rightly expect a ‘‘fair shake’’:

honest transactions and safe, dependable goods and services.

Our economy has changed enormously during the past 200 years, developing

from the agrarian system of the 18th century through the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century to the information revolution of our own era.

Today, technological innovation is rapidly transforming our relationships

with the marketplace and the goods and services we buy. However, despite

these dramatic changes, basic consumer values remain the same. Consumers

still expect quality and service for their money; they still place great importance on the safety and reliability of the products they buy; and they still

want to know that businesses will meet these expectations.

In the days of Adam Smith, when products were less complicated and

their quality more easily discerned, caveat emptor was the ruling principle

of the marketplace. In today’s economy, where the microchip has dramatically

altered what we buy and how and where we buy it, products and services

are much more complex, and consumers need better information and greater

protection to ensure that the marketplace continues to treat them fairly.

The Consumer Bill of Rights, first articulated in President Kennedy’s 1962

Special Message to Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest, has evolved

with our economy to meet the changing needs of the American people.

Consumers today have the right to safety, the right to information, the

right to choice, the right to be heard, the right to consumer education,

and the right to service. They also deserve security for any personal information provided during the conduct of a transaction, whether in person or

on the Internet. As we observe National Consumer Week, I urge the American

people to learn more about their rights as responsible consumers and to

reward those businesses that continue to give them a fair shake.
56048 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 208 / Tuesday, October 28, 1997 / Presidential Documents

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution

and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 25 through

October 31, 1997, as National Consumers Week. I call upon government

officials, industry leaders, and the American people to recognize the vital

relationship between our economy and our citizenry, and to join me in

reaffirming our commitment to fairness in the marketplace.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth

day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninetyseven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two

[FR Doc. 97–28765

Filed 10–27–97; 11:25 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

hundred and twenty-second.

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