§2823 Administration and Enforcement Provisions

Summary

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gets to make and enforce rules about automotive fuel ratings. The FTC can investigate, require reports and documents, and make people appear as witnesses, using the same powers it normally has under the FTC Act. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can test fuel at gas stations to check whether the posted rating matches the fuel. The EPA must send its test results to the FTC and tell the FTC when a station fails to post a rating. The FTC may make agreements with the EPA and other federal agencies to cut inspection costs and avoid doing the same work twice. Within 6 months after June 19, 1978, the FTC must issue rules that set one standard way to certify a fuel’s rating and one standard way to display that rating at the point of sale. The FTC may also make alternate methods for figuring ratings different from section 2821, may allow adjustments for altitude, temperature, and humidity, and can create a different method for blends if it finds that method more accurate than the weighted-average method in section 2822(f)(1). Most rules must follow the federal notice-and-comment rulemaking process in section 553 of title 5, and people must get a chance to give written and oral comments. Rules under the alternate-method authority in subsection (c)(3) and rules under section 2822(d) require a formal on-the-record hearing. Section 18 of the FTC Act does not apply here. Breaking the listed parts of section 2822 (subsections (a), (b), (c), or (e)) or a rule under section 2822(d) is treated as an unfair or deceptive act under the FTC Act and can be enforced with the same remedies and penalties.