The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revived its efforts to update
the Negative Option Rule. On Friday, the FTC announced it had
submitted a draft Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)
concerning the agency's Rule Concerning the Use of
Prenotification Negative Option Plans (the Negative Option Rule),
to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the
Office of Management and Budget.
Last summer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth
Circuit vacated the rule on the
bases that it was not promulgated in accordance with necessary
rulemaking procedures, and was overly broad. The text of the
updated rule is not yet public, but we anticipate it will address
the Eighth Circuit's concerns, including taking a narrower
approach in its restrictions of autorenewal and subscription
marketing.
