Crown Central Petroleum Corporation

Text (OCR of the scan at left; may contain errors)

IN THE MATTER OF CROWN CENTRAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION MODIFYING ORDER IN REGARD TO ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ACT Docket 8851. Complaint, July 14, 1971 — Modifying order, Aug. 3, 1976 Order modifying an earlier order dated Nov. 26, 1974, 40 F.R. 12775, 84 F.T.C. 1498, by entering the modifying words “performance” before the words “quality” and “characteristic” in order provision 7(d) of the order. Appearances For the Commission: Fauster J. Vittone and Jean F. Greene. For the respondent: James H. Kelley and Leonard A. Tokus, Bergson, Borkland, Margolis & Adler, Washington, D.C. and Morton H. Sacks, Cable, McDaniel, Bowie & Bond, Baltimore, Md. ORDER MODIFYING ORDER To CEASE AND DESIST Respondent having filed a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and that Court having issued, on March 4, 1976, its order affirming the Commission’s order to cease and desist entered November 26, 1974 [84 F.T.C. 1493], with the insertion of modifying words in one provision thereof: It is ordered, That the Commission’s order issued in this matter on November 26, 1974, be modified in accordance with the decision and judgment of the Court so as to read in full as follows: It is ordered, That respondent Crown Central Petroleum Corporation, a corporation, its successors and assigns, and its officers, representatives, agents, and employees, directly or through any corporate or other device in connection with the advertising, offering for sale, sale or distribution of Crown gasolines, or the additive CA-101, or any other product in commerce as “commerce” is defined in the Federal Trade Commission Act, do forthwith cease and desist from: 1. Representing directly or by implication that any such product:

(a) Will produce or result in motor vehicle exhaust which is pollution free or generally pollution free; or (b) Will eliminate or reduce air pollution caused by motor vehicles; or CROWN CENTRAL PETROLEUM CORP. 211 Modifying Order (c) Will eliminate or reduce emissions from all or any number or group of motor vehicles in which it is used; or that:

(d) Any gasoline or gasoline additive product has any other performance quality, performance ability or performance characteristic; or (e) Tests, demonstrations, research or experiments have been conducted which prove or substantiate any of said representations; unless and only to the extent that each and every such representation is true and has been fully and completely substantiated by competent scientific tests. The results of said tests, the original data collected in the course thereof and a detailed description of how said tests were performed shall be kept available in written form for at least three years following the final use of the representation.

2. Representing directly or by implication that any such product has any effectiveness in reducing air pollution or any air pollutant or air pollutants without at the same time, in the same advertisement or other form of communication, conspicuously disclosing that not all of the harmful pollutants in automotive exhaust are affected by said product.

3. Representing directly or by implication that any product will reduce any emissions of pollutants from automobile exhaust by any percentage or numerical quantity unless in connection therewith there is a clear, accurate and conspicuous disclosure of the type of vehicle which can expect to achieve reductions of such magnitude and the approximate percentage of such vehicles in the general car population.

It is further ordered, That the respondent corporation shall forthwith distribute a copy of this order to each of its operating divisions. It is further ordered, That respondent shall notify the Commission at least thirty (80) days prior to any proposed change in the corporate respondent such as dissolution, assignment, or sale resulting in the emergence of a successor corporation, the creation or dissolution of subsidiaries, or any other change in the corporation which affects compliance obligations arising out of the order. It is further ordered, That respondent shall, within sixty (60) days after service of the order upon it, file with the Commission a written report, signed by the respondent, setting forth in detail the manner and form of its compliance with the order to cease and desist. Modifying Order 88 F.T.C.