Hunton Retail Law Resource

Following a September 2024 report outlining findings from public income disclosure statements of multi-level marketers (MLM), the FTC announced on January 13, 2025 two Notices of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) and one Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) focused on multi-level marketing programs and money-making opportunities. The Commission voted 3-2 along partisan lines to issue these three notices. The proposals would enable the FTC to seek enhanced penalties from covered companies making deceptive earnings claims.

We have written here about the work of the NAD, the National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs. The NAD offers independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services for members of the national advertising community. NAD examines advertising to determine whether the evidence provided by the advertiser fully supports the advertising claims at issue in an NAD review. NAD’s findings and recommendations are detailed in a final written decision and outlined in an accompanying press release.

The FTC announced the issuance of an updated children’s privacy rule (COPPA), more than five years after initiating a rule review. The Commission vote on the Rule was 5-0, with various Commissioners filing separate statements. The Final Rule, which will be published in the Federal Register shortly, contains several significant changes, but also stops short of the version proposed by the FTC in January of 2024. The Rule will go into effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register; most covered entities will have one year after publication to comply.

The FDA has announced a proposal to require a new nutrition label on the front of packages for most packaged foods. The label design, shown below, would give consumers readily visible information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars content—three nutrients the FDA states are directly linked with chronic diseases when consumed in excess. 

On December 11, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in a rare en banc decision vacated the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) order approving Nasdaq’s board diversity rules (Rules 5605(f) and Rule 5606).

The FTC has penalized accessiBe Inc. $1 million for claiming its “AI-powered web accessibility solution” can make websites fully compliant with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).  According to the FTC’s complaint, accessiBe claimed its “one line of code” made a website compliant with 30% of WCAG’s requirements immediately and initiated an AI process that makes the website fully compliant with the remaining 70% of WCAG requirements within 48 hours.

The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) has recommended that Just Play LLC revise its advertising for Daisy the Yoga Goat toy, a plushie that “moves her head, swishes her tail, drinks from her play water bottle, and does downward dog and bird yoga poses.” In its press release about the decision, CARU noted that the 15 second commercial and product packaging could mislead children about what is included with product purchase, how to activate the toy and use it as shown, and misrepresented that the toy could perform in a particular manner. For example, the ad showed Daisy the Yoga Goat with a yoga mat and a water bottle, and implied that they toy’s movement and reactions are automatic. 

The FDA has announced its long-awaited Rule governing when the term “healthy” can be used as an implied nutrient content claim on food labels.

The FTC announced its final Rule addressing specific unfair and deceptive pricing practices commonly used by the hotel and event ticketing industries. The Rule requires businesses to clearly disclose the total price a consumer will pay, inclusive of all mandatory fees, whenever they advertise any price for such services. The Rule also requires businesses to display this total price more prominently than other pricing information.

The inauguration of President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, will lead to a change in control of  the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). On November 21, 2024, current SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced that he will resign his position at 12:00 p.m. on January 20, 2025. The next day, Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga (D) also announced his intent to step down, effective January 17, 2025. These key departures will leave a 2-1 Republican majority at the SEC at the start of the next administration.