The annual ABA Antitrust Law Spring Meeting held in Washington, D.C., last month included sessions on consumer protection. Key takeaways include the following:
- The FTC Act remains broad in scope, claims about products treating serious diseases must be supported by clinical testing, and companies promoting their products as “Made in the USA” must meet the “all or virtually all” standard, meaning that all significant parts and processing that go into the product must be of U.S. origin.
- When the GDPR goes into effect on May 25, 2018, U.S. companies that target their goods and services to EU residents or track the behavior of EU residents will be subject to its new requirements, regardless of whether they have a physical presence in the European Union.
- Absent congressional action, the current debate on net neutrality is likely to continue for years to come.
- A website or online service directed toward children that collects personal information (or an online service with knowledge of the data collection) must comply with COPPA, and regulators observe that it is less expensive for companies to build compliance on the front end than to retrofit a service.
This update details discussions on the above topics covered at the April meeting. Read the full Update here.