The Department of Justice ("DOJ") has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") to implement Executive Order 14117 on Preventing Access to Americans' Bulk Sensitive Personal Data and United...

Simpson Thacher Sustainability And ESG: Regulatory Update – September 2026

CARB Pauses Mandatory SB 261 Reporting Following the Ninth Circuit's Grant of Plaintiff's Preliminary Injunction and Issues Proposed Regulations.

The focus on easy cancellation and transparent pricing continues at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), based on its recent record-breaking settlement with Amazon, and its actions against Ticketmaster and education technology provider Chegg, Inc. (Chegg) this month.

Last month the FTC brought its first actions to enforce its Review Rule, adopted in 2024 to curb the misleading use of reviews.

The Federal Trade Commission once again signaled its continued focus on making it easy to cancel recurring charges and avoid misleading practices in negative option plans.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) recently proposed the most significant amendments to the registered offering framework in over 20 years, intended to facilitate capital formation in the public securities markets. The proposed amendments to its registered offering rules (the “Proposal”)[1] would preempt state securities law registration and qualification requirements for all offerings registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

Schedule I is the CSA's most restrictive schedule and includes drugs with no current accepted medical use in treatment in the U.S., a high potential for abuse, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. Schedule III drugs, in contrast, are those for which a finding has been made that the drug has a currently accepted medical use and less potential for abuse than the drugs in Schedules I or II.

On June 30, 2026, the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the “Staff”) of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an exemptive order granting an exemption from Rules 14e-1(a) and (b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), for certain qualifying tender or exchange offers for non-convertible debt securities (“Five Business Day Tender Offers”). The SEC exemptive order supersedes the Staff’s 2015 no-action letter (the “2015 Letter”)[1] relating to Five Business Day Tender Offers and is effective immediately.

The Act restores the ITC eligibility of qualified fuel cell property that begins construction after 2025. Under the IRA, qualified fuel cell property was required to have begun construction prior to 2025 in order to be eligible for the ITC.

Recent EU and UK regulatory initiatives signal a renewed push to strengthen and scale the EU and UK securitisation markets, with three developments in particular highlighting how policymakers aim to broaden the investor base, refine prudential frameworks and mobilise long-term capital—especially from insurers.

Emily Holland presented on "Emerging Views on Responsible Defense Investment" to the ABA International Law Section Business & Human Rights Subcommittee on November 12.

This week FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak identified three top priorities for the Commission in her remarks at the Association of National Advertisers Master of Advertising Law Conference.

On 17 February 2026 the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper (CP26/6) on reforming the UK securitisation framework.

This month’s headline FTC action was the announcement that the FTC and 22 states sued Amazon over deceptive advertising practices. But the FTC has also kept its sights trained on protecting cash-strapped consumers. The FTC announced settlements involving empty credit-repair promises, bill payment platforms masquerading as official payment channels, and tacked-on fees at used car dealerships.

On February 25, 2026, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a proposal to implement significant portions of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, known as the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law in July 2025.

At the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), its divided priorities on consumer harm from everyday costs and technology censorship came into full focus this month. FTC activity enforcement on everyday consumer costs continued with an announcement settling litigation with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) the FTC alleged were driving up healthcare costs.

On May 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a stay of a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging Texas’ anti-ESG law, Senate Bill 13 (“SB 13”), allowing the law to remain in effect pending appeal.

On March 19, 2026, the federal banking agencies issued a package of proposed changes to the regulatory capital requirements for banking institutions of all sizes, from the largest GSIBs and super-regional banks to community banks. This package of proposals (the “Proposed Rules”) is a second full attempt at implementing the 2017 “Basel III Endgame” international framework—following the agencies’ initial package of proposals in July 2023 (the “2023 NPR”)—to better reflect credit, trading and operational risk in the calculation of regulatory capital ratios.

The FTC's focus on affordability continues. New enforcement actions target healthcare plan costs and whether consumers are misled about the costs and comprehensiveness of the plans.