• March 8, 2011

The Federal Trade Commission plans to launch a study of the alcoholic beverage industry's self-regulatory efforts.

Topics to be covered include companies' compliance with voluntary advertising placement provisions, sales and marketing spending; status of third-party review of complaints regarding compliance with voluntary advertising codes; and alcohol industry data-collection practices.

This will be the fourth such study by the FTC; the last one was in 1999. The agency is asking for clearance from the Office of Management and Budget to collect information from the alcohol companies, the first step in a study. It has also published a Federal Register notice seeking public comment on collection of data from the companies.