What We Learned From ... Massachusetts: ​"Junk Fee" Regulation Update

Yael Shavit, Chief of the Consumer Protection Division at the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, recently joined a Kelley Drye webinar to unpack the Commonwealth's new junk fee and auto-renewal regulations and walk through the business guidance issued by the office, which we also discussed earlier this year. In effect since September, the regulations build on the Attorney General's existing authority under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices by setting out specific , prescriptive disclosure requirements in those two key areas.

Cracking Down on Junk Fees

As we have previously noted, Massachusetts' new junk fee regulations require that businesses disclose the "total price" up-front. Total price refers to the maximum amount a consumer must pay, excluding only government-imposed charges and shipping costs, and it must be displayed before any personal information is collected.