§2823 Administration and enforcement provisions

Summary

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gets the power to make rules, run investigations, and enforce the fuel-rating rules. The FTC can write procedures, define words, and require reports, documents, and witnesses, just as if the FTC Act applied here. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may test fuel at retail stations to check posted ratings, must send those test results to the FTC, and must tell the FTC when a station fails to post a rating. The FTC may make agreements with the EPA and other agencies to cut costs and avoid repeating the same inspections. Within 6 months after June 19, 1978, the FTC must make rules for a standard way to certify a fuel’s rating and a standard way to display that rating at the point of sale. After those rules take effect, people only meet the law if they follow them. The FTC can also set other ways to determine a fuel rating, including methods that adjust for altitude, temperature, and humidity, or new methods for blends if they are more accurate than the old weighted-average method. Most rules must follow the normal public rulemaking process and allow written and oral comments; some rules must be made after a formal hearing. Section 18 of the FTC Act does not apply to these rules. Breaking the listed fuel-rating rules is treated as an unfair or deceptive practice under the FTC Act and can be punished the same way.