Order 03-02-4

Order 03-02-4

Viacao Aerea Rio-Grandense, S.A. (VARIG)

Order 03-02-4
OST-03-14194

Issued and Served February 6, 2003

Consent Order

Violations of 49 USC 41712 and 14 CFR Part 399

Without admitting any violations, VARIG states in mitigation that it did not intend to violate any of the Department’s regulations concerning fare advertising. Rather, VARIG asserts that, because it had not undertaken a significant advertising campaign in the United States in many years, and had last made a comprehensive review of its website when it set it up in 2000, it had grown less familiar with the full fare advertising rule and was less focused on recent Department case precedent. VARIG states that, for the joint campaign with the Rio Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and the various tour operators, it, along with other advertisers, relied on an experienced advertising agency that held itself out as a specialist in travel advertising.

VARIG consents to the issuance of this order to cease and desist from future violations of 49 U.S.C. § 41712 and 14 CFR 399.84 and to the assessment of $20,000 in compromise of potential civil penalties otherwise assessable. Of this total penalty amount, $10,000 shall be paid under the terms described below.

By: Rosalind Knapp