EPIC & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Release Comments on FTC Draft Strategic Plan
In the last month, comments have been submitted in response to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s Draft Strategic Plan for Fiscal Year 2022-2026 by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The comments by EPIC urge the FTC to expand upon how they will safeguard consumer privacy by providing “definite consumer privacy metrics with a focus on privacy harms suffered by marginalized communities.”
Additionally, EPIC provides that the plan should include specific parameters for enforcement since there is no national data protection agency. As such, the comment recommends that the federal agency responsible for enforcing the plan should be provided with the following metrics:
the number of enforcement actions initiated against companies for unfair, deceptive, or otherwise unlawful data practices;
the amount collected in civil penalties from such companies;
the number of businesses placed on notice of their data protection obligations; and
the number of consumers who obtain redress through the FTC
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's comments urges revisions to the plan to permit the FTC to “continue its robust law enforcement efforts in a way that reduces the costs to the business community and ultimately, to consumers.” As such, they recommend that the plan be revised to commit to the following parameters:
working constructively with the private sector;
enforcing the law in a way that minimizes undue burden and costs;
tailoring proposed remedies to fit any alleged anticompetitive conduct;
protecting due process;
preventing worsening regulatory patchworks;
focusing on preventing and addressing harm and not revenue through penalties; and
modernizing systems and promoting transparency. Through these changes, the FTC could continue its robust law enforcement efforts in a way that reduces the costs to the business community and, ultimately, to consumers.
According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the comment period for the Draft Strategic Plan ended on December 2, 2021. The FEC will now consider comments such as those provided by EPIC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in creating their final draft, which will go into effect in early 2022.
For questions or concerns about how this Strategic Plan could impact your organization, please contact Kennedy Sutherland.