FTC pushes the enforcement of its 'click-to-cancel' rule back to July

The Federal Trade Commission has delayed the commencement of a regularisation that aims to marque the process of canceling subscriptions little of a nightmare. Last year, the FTC voted to ratify amendments to a regularisation known arsenic the Negative Option Rule, adding a caller "click-to-cancel" regularisation that requires companies to beryllium upfront astir the presumption of subscription signups and prohibits them "from making it immoderate much hard for consumers to cancel than it was to motion up." Surprising nary one, telecom companies were not happy, and sued the FTC. While the regularisation was nevertheless acceptable to beryllium implemented connected May 14, the FTC present says enforcement has been pushed backmost 60 days to July 14.

Some parts of the updated Negative Option Rule went into effect connected January 19, but the enforcement of definite provisions were deferred to May 14 by the erstwhile medication to springiness companies much clip to comply. Under the caller administration, the FTC says it has "conducted a caller appraisal of the burdens that forcing compliance by this day would impose" and decided it "insufficiently accounted for the complexity of compliance."

Once the July 14 deadline hits, the FTC says "regulated entities indispensable beryllium successful compliance with the full of the Rule due to the fact that the Commission volition statesman enforcing it." But, the connection adds, "if that enforcement acquisition exposes problems with the Rule, the Commission is unfastened to amending" it.