Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter announced a new rulemaking group within the FTC’s Office of the General Counsel. The creation of this new entity will strengthen the existing rules of the FTC and increase the commission’s capacity to undertake new rulemakings. The FTC emphasized that it believes clear rules and significant civil penalties for rulebreakers deter bad actors.
“I believe that we can and must use our rulemaking authority to deliver effective deterrence for the novel harms of the digital economy and persistent old scams alike,” said Acting Chairwoman Slaughter. “Our rulemaking power under section 18 has gotten a bad reputation for being too hard to use, but longstanding FTC rules, such as the Funeral Rule and the Eyeglass Rule, have provided significant benefits to consumers. It is also time for the Commission to activate its unfair methods of competition rulemaking authority in our increasingly concentrated economy, and I am excited for this new rulemaking group to explore all the possibilities.”
This centralization of rulemaking will be a shift from the commission’s current structure, which places responsibility for particular rules on individual bureaus and divisions.
