Negative Option Rule

On May 9, 2025, the FTC announced that it is deferring the compliance deadline for the Negative Option Rule by 60 days to July 14.  This announcement came five days before the original compliance date for the majority of the Rule’s provisions.  All three Commissioners voted in favor of the deferral.Continue Reading FTC Delays Negative Option Rule Compliance Date to July 14

On October 16, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a final “click-to-cancel” rule that amends the previous Negative Option Rule to “make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up.” The Rule also imposes extensive requirements regarding misrepresentations, disclosures, and consent, among others. Most of the provisions will go into effect 180 days after publication in the Federal Register. As of today, the final rule has not yet been published. This final rule is the culmination of a five-year proceeding including the FTC’s issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) in March 2023 and an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking in October 2019. We previously analyzed the proposed rule presented in the NPRM.Continue Reading FTC Issues Final “Click-to-Cancel” Rule

On March 23, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would significantly revise the legal framework governing automatically renewing subscriptions.  The proposal would amend the FTC’s existing Negative Option Rule to provide specific disclosure, consent, and cancellation requirements applicable to all negative options in all media.  The Rule would formalize many of the guidelines from the FTC’s October 2021 Enforcement Policy Statement Regarding Negative Option Marketing (“Policy Statement”) and incorporate new requirements not previously addressed at the federal level such as renewal reminders.  Continue Reading FTC Proposes to Rewrite Negative Option Rule with Expansive Notice of Proposed Rulemaking