FTC Initiates Action on New Earnings Claims Rule

Commissioners vote unanimously to seek public comment on potential rule targeting direct sellers and other gig economy businesses

By:  David Bland

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) continues its post-AMG Capital Management push to prepare other weapons for use against direct sellers in the absence of injunctive monetary relief via Section 13(b), which was stripped by the Supreme Court in Spring 2021.

Eleven months after announcing a new rulemaking group to reinvigorate and streamline its Section 18 powers, the FTC conducted a virtual open meeting to announce, accept public comments on, and vote on the publication of its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) Concerning Deceptive Earnings Claims in the Federal Register. The agenda for this meeting also included a vote on issuing orders to large pharmacy benefits managers (PBM) to study the competitive impact of its policies affecting independent or specialty pharmacies.