WeightWatchers 2010 Annual Report Download - page 27

R
egulat
i
on
A
number of laws and regulations govern our advertising, services, products, operations and relations wit
h
consumers, employees and other service providers in the countries in which we operate. Certain federal, state an
d
f
oreign agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, regulate and enforce such laws relating t
o
advertising, disclosures to consumers, privacy, consumer pricing and billing arrangements, and other consumer
p
rotection matters. Since we operate our meetings business both in the United States and internationally, we ar
e
subject to many distinct employment, labor, benefits and tax laws in each country in which we operate, including
r
egulations affecting our employment practices and our relations with our employees and service providers. Law
s
and regulations directly applicable to communications, operations or commerce over the Internet such as those
governing intellectual property, privacy, libel and taxation, are more prevalent and remain unsettled. Ou
r
o
perations, particularly our WeightWatchers.com operations, are subject to these laws and regulations and we
continue to monitor their development and our compliance. In addition, we are subject to other laws an
d
r
egulations in the United States and internationally, including securities laws
.
During the mid-1990s, the FTC filed complaints against a number of commercial weight managemen
t
p
roviders alleging violations of federal law in connection with the use of advertisements that featured
testimonials, claims for program success and program costs. In 1997, we entered into a consent order with the
FTC settling all contested issues raised in the complaint filed against us. The consent order requires us to compl
y
with certain
p
rocedures and disclosures in connection with our advertisements of services and
p
roducts
.
Em
p
lo
y
ees and Service Provider
s
A
s of January 1, 2011, we had approximately 26,000 employees. In addition, in certain of our markets, ou
r
service providers are self-employed. As of January 1, 2011, we had approximately
5
6,000 employees and service
p
roviders. We consider our relations with our employees and service providers to be satisfactory
.
Financial Information About Segments and Financial Information About Geographic Area
s
I
nformation concerning our operating segments and our geographic areas is set forth in Note 1
5
of ou
r
consolidated financial statements, contained in Part IV, Item 1
5
of this Annual Re
p
ort on Form 10-K
.
Information concerning some of the risks to which we are exposed resulting from our international operation
s
and foreign currency exchange rates is set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on
Form
10
-K.
Ava
i
lable In
f
ormat
i
on
Corporate information and our press releases, Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on For
m
10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments thereto, are available free of charge on our website a
t
www.weightwatchersinternational.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronicall
y
f
iled with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission
(
i
.e
.
, generally the same day as the filing).
Moreover, we also make available at that site the Section 16 reports filed electronically by our officers, director
s
and 10 percent shareholders. Usually these are publicly accessible no later than the business day following the
f
iling.
We use our website at
w
ww.weightwatchersinternational.co
m
as a c
h
a
nn
e
l
o
f
d
i
st
ri
but
i
o
n
o
fm
ate
ri
al
Company information. Financial and other material information regarding Weight Watchers International is
r
outinely posted on and accessible at our website
.
Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and our Cor
p
orate Governance Guidelines are available on ou
r
website at
w
ww.weightwatchersinternational.co
m
.
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