BMW of North America, LLC; Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment |
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Topics: Mini
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Donald S. Clark
Federal Trade Commission
March 26, 2015
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 58 (Thursday, March 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16011-16013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06903]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 132 3150]
BMW of North America, LLC; Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public
Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent
order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these
allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 20, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/bmwnorthamericaconsent online or on
paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write ``BMW of North
America, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323150'' on your comment and
file your comment online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/bmwnorthamericaconsent by following the instructions on the web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``BMW of North
America, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323150'' on your comment and
on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor,
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Svetlana Gans, Bureau of Consumer
Protection, (202) 326-3708, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing 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 thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for March 19, 2015), on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before April 20, 2015.
Write ``BMW of North America, LLC--Consent Agreement; File No.
1323150'' on your comment. Your comment--including your name and your
state--will be placed on the public record of this proceeding,
including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web
site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of
discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact
information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web
site.
[[Page 16012]]
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/bmwnorthamericaconsent by following the instructions on the web-
based form. If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``BMW of North America,
LLC--Consent Agreement; File No. 1323150'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before April 20, 2015. You can find more information,
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has
accepted, subject to final approval, a consent agreement applicable to
BMW of North America, LLC (``respondent'').
The proposed consent order has been placed on the public record for
thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by interested persons.
Comments received during this period will become part of the public
record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will again review the
agreement and comments received, and will decide whether it should
withdraw from the agreement and take appropriate action or make final
the agreement's proposed order.
The Respondent's MINI Division provides purchasers of new MINI
passenger cars a Service and Warranty Information Statement (``Warranty
Statement''). According to the FTC complaint, language in the Warranty
Statement violates the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (``Warranty Act''),
15 U.S.C. 2302(c), by conditioning warranty coverage on the consumer's
use of genuine MINI parts and MINI dealers to perform maintenance and
repair work.
The FTC enforces the Warranty Act, which regulates consumer
warranties and the procedures used to resolve warranty disputes. The
broad purposes of the Warranty Act are (1) to improve the adequacy of
warranty information available to consumers, and thereby facilitate
consumer choice; (2) to prevent deception; and (3) to improve
competition in the marketing of consumer products. Among other things,
the Warranty Act prohibits a warrantor from conditioning a consumer
product's warranty on the consumer's use of an article or a service
(other than an article or a service provided without charge) which is
identified by brand, trade, or corporate name. 15 U.S.C. 2302(c) (``the
anti-tying provision'').
According to the FTC complaint, in connection with the warranty for
certain MINI models, respondent has required owners to have routine
maintenance, such as oil changes, performed by MINI dealers and to use
genuine MINI parts. The complaint alleges that this requirement appears
in two places in the Warranty Statement.
First, in order to have a warranty claim approved, owners must
demonstrate that they obtained regular maintenance of their vehicles by
having a MINI dealer place a stamp in the warranty booklet. See
Complaint at ] 12. Second, the Warranty Statement states that it ``is
not obligated to pay for repairs that include non-genuine MINI parts. .
. .'' (emphasis added). Although respondent provides, with the purchase
of its vehicles, a free scheduled maintenance program, many of the
models have a three-year maintenance program, but a four-year new
vehicle warranty. Thus, according to the complaint, there is one year
during the warranty period in which consumers must pay for their
maintenance and repair work while being required to use MINI dealers
and MINI parts to retain warranty coverage.
The proposed consent order contains provisions designed to prevent
respondent from engaging in similar acts or practices in the future.
Specifically, Part I prohibits respondent, in connection with the sale
of any MINI Division good or service, from violating any provision of
the Warranty Act, including, but not limited to, the anti-tying
provision. Part II prohibits respondent, in connection with the sale of
any MINI good or service, from misrepresenting that vehicles, in order
to operate safely or maintain value, must have maintenance work
performed by a MINI dealer. Part II also prohibits respondent from
misrepresenting any material fact concerning any warranty or
maintenance requirements of any MINI good or service.
Part III requires respondent to send notices to all affected
consumers informing them that their warranties are not conditioned on
repair work being performed by MINI dealers or on the use of genuine
MINI parts.
Parts IV through VIII of the proposed order are reporting and
compliance provisions. Part IV requires respondent to maintain, and
make available to the Commission upon written request, copies of
Owner's Manuals and Warranty Statements for each motor
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vehicle sold by respondent. Part V requires dissemination of the order,
now and in the future, to persons with responsibilities relating to the
MINI Division and the subject matter of the order. Part VI ensures
notification to the FTC of changes in corporate status. Part VII
mandates that respondent submit an initial compliance report to the
FTC, and make subsequent reports available to the FTC, upon request.
Part VIII is a provision ``sunsetting'' the order after twenty (20)
years, within certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the proposed order or to modify its terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-06903 Filed 3-25-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P