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The Â鶹´«Ã½ Trade Commission is holding a public work- shop/conference in Chicago, Illinois, April 18-20 to discuss issues raised in the public comments regarding the FTC's proposed Telemarketing Sales Rule. The two-and-a-half-day event will take place at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, 720 S. Michigan. Parti- cipants include representatives from nearly two dozen consumer groups, industry organizations and businesses. The event will be moderated by Howard Bellman, an independent mediator with 30 years experience in the areas of mediation and alternative dispute resolution.

The workshop/conference is open to the public. The Commission staff will consider the views and suggestions made during the conference, in conjunction with written comments on the proposed rule, in formulating its final recommendation to the Commission concerning the proposed rule.

The FTC has proposed the Telemarketing Sales Rule to ban numerous deceptive or abusive practices pursuant to a statute enacted last year, the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act. Under that law, the Commission is required to finalize its rule by Aug. 16, 1995.

Copies of the proposed rule are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. In addition, the proposed rule and comments are posted on the Internet. The FTC gopher server address is CONSUMER.FTC.GOV 2416. For World Wide Web access, the URL is GOPHER://CONSUMER.FTC.GOV:2416.

(Telemarketing Rule Workshop--04/03/95)