LVTR LLC; Analysis To Aid Public Comment, 21784-21786 [2019-09952]
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21784
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 94 / Wednesday, May 15, 2019 / Notices
includes a review-limiting term;
requiring that a customer accept such a
term as a condition of the respondents’
fulfillment of their obligations under
contracts entered into before the
effective date of the order; or attempting
to enforce or assert the validity of such
a term in customer contracts entered
into before the effective date of the
order. Part I would not require that the
respondents publish or host the content
of any person, affect any other legal
duty of a party to a contract, or affect
any cause of action arising from the
breach of such duty.
Part II requires the respondents to
notify by mail or email customers with
whom they entered into form contracts
with a non-disparagement provision on
or after March 14, 2017 that the nondisparagement provision is void and
cannot be enforced, and that those
customers can publish their honest
reviews about the respondents, even if
their comments are negative.
Part III requires the respondents to
submit signed acknowledgments that
relevant personnel received the order.
Part IV requires the respondents to
file compliance reports with the
Commission, and to notify the
Commission of bankruptcy filings or
changes in company structure that
might affect compliance obligations.
Part V contains recordkeeping
requirements for personnel records,
consumer contracts, communications
with consumers threatening any legal
action relating to any review; and court
filings and the company’s discovery
responses in legal actions over
consumer reviews, as well as all records
necessary to demonstrate compliance or
noncompliance with the order.
Part VI contains other requirements
related to the Commission’s monitoring
of the respondents’ order compliance.
Part VII provides the effective dates of
the order, including that, with
exceptions, the order will terminate in
20 years.
The purpose of this analysis is to
facilitate public comment on the order,
and it is not intended to constitute an
official interpretation of the complaint
or order, or to modify the order’s terms
in any way.
jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with NOTICES
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019–09955 Filed 5–14–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
Statement of the Federal Trade
Commission
April 24, 2019
Today, the Commission announces
cases against Clixsense and i-Dressup,1
1 Although the Commission’s settlement with iDressup addresses broader COPPA violations, this
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22:43 May 14, 2019
Jkt 247001
which include allegations that the
companies failed to employ reasonable
security to protect consumers’ sensitive
data. The orders obtained in these
matters contain strong injunctive
provisions, including new requirements
that go beyond requirements from
previous data security orders. For
example, the orders include
requirements that a senior officer
provide annual certifications of
compliance to the Commission, and
explicit provisions prohibiting the
defendants from making
misrepresentations to the third parties
conducting assessments of their data
security programs. These new
requirements will provide greater
assurances that consumers’ data will be
protected going forward.
Since joining the Commission, we
have instructed staff to closely review
our orders to determine whether they
could be strengthened and improved—
particularly in the areas of privacy and
data security. Through ongoing
discussions both internally and with
external stakeholders, including through
our public Hearings on Competition and
Consumer Protection in the 21st Century
and the comment process,2 we continue
to consider changes to our orders. We
will adjust our data security orders, as
needed, to reflect our ongoing
discussions regarding the FTC’s
remedial authority and needs, as well as
the specific facts and circumstances of
each case.
We are particularly committed to
strengthening the order provisions
regarding data security assessments of
companies by third parties. The
Commission expects that these third
parties will faithfully assess data
security practices to identify potential
noncompliance with appropriate order
provisions. Future orders will better
ensure that third-party assessors know
they are accountable for providing
meaningful, independent analysis of the
data practices under examination. The
announcements today reflect the
beginning of our thinking, but we
anticipate further refinements, and these
orders may not reflect the approach that
we intend to use in every data security
enforcement action going forward.
statement focuses specifically on the data security
requirements set forth in the proposed stipulated
order.
2 See, e.g., FTC Hearings on Competition and
Consumer Protection in the 21st Century (Session
9—Data Security), Dec. 11–12, 2018, https://
www.ftc.gov/news-events/events-calendar/ftchearing-competition-consumer-protection-21stcentury-december-2018.
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 182 3098]
LVTR LLC; Analysis To Aid Public
Comment
Federal Trade Commission.
Proposed consent agreement.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
The consent agreement in this
matter settles alleged violations of
federal law prohibiting unfair or
deceptive acts or practices. The attached
Analysis to Aid Public Comment
describes both the allegations in the
complaint and the terms of the consent
order—embodied in the consent
agreement—that would settle these
allegations.
SUMMARY:
Comments must be received on
or before June 14, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file
comments online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the
Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below. Write: ‘‘LVTR LLC; File No. 182
3098’’ on your comment, and file your
comment online at https://
www.regulations.gov by following the
instructions on the web-based form. If
you prefer to file your comment on
paper, mail your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary,
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite
CC–5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW,
5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl
H. Settlemyer (202–326–2019), Bureau
of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant
to Section 6(f) of the Federal Trade
Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and
FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is
hereby given that the above-captioned
consent agreement containing a consent
order to cease and desist, having been
filed with and accepted, subject to final
approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period
of thirty (30) days. The following
Analysis to Aid Public Comment
describes the terms of the consent
agreement and the allegations in the
complaint. An electronic copy of the
full text of the consent agreement
package can be obtained from the FTC
Home Page (for May 8, 2019), on the
World Wide Web, at https://
DATES:
E:\FR\FM\15MYN1.SGM
15MYN1
jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 94 / Wednesday, May 15, 2019 / Notices
www.ftc.gov/news-events/commissionactions.
You can file a comment online or on
paper. For the Commission to consider
your comment, we must receive it on or
before June 14, 2019. Write ‘‘LVTR LLC;
File No. 182 3098’’ on your comment.
Your comment—including your name
and your state—will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding,
including, to the extent practicable, on
the https://www.regulations.gov
website.
Postal mail addressed to the
Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a
result, we encourage you to submit your
comments online through the https://
www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on
paper, write ‘‘LVTR LLC; File No. 182
3098’’ on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary,
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite
CC–5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20580; or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW,
5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20024. If possible,
submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight
service.
Because your comment will be placed
on the publicly accessible website at
https://www.regulations.gov, you are
solely responsible for making sure that
your comment does not include any
sensitive or confidential information. In
particular, your comment should not
include any sensitive personal
information, such as your or anyone
else’s Social Security number; date of
birth; driver’s license number or other
state identification number, or foreign
country equivalent; passport number;
financial account number; or credit or
debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your
comment does not include any sensitive
health information, such as medical
records or other individually
identifiable health information. In
addition, your comment should not
include any ‘‘trade secret or any
commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or
confidential’’—as provided by Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and
FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)—
including in particular competitively
sensitive information such as costs,
sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing
processes, or customer names.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
22:43 May 14, 2019
Jkt 247001
Comments containing material for
which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form,
must be clearly labeled ‘‘Confidential,’’
and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c).
In particular, the written request for
confidential treatment that accompanies
the comment must include the factual
and legal basis for the request, and must
identify the specific portions of the
comment to be withheld from the public
record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your
comment will be kept confidential only
if the General Counsel grants your
request in accordance with the law and
the public interest. Once your comment
has been posted on the public FTC
website—as legally required by FTC
Rule 4.9(b)—we cannot redact or
remove your comment from the FTC
website, unless you submit a
confidentiality request that meets the
requirements for such treatment under
FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General
Counsel grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at https://
www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and the
news release describing it. The FTC Act
and other laws that the Commission
administers permit the collection of
public comments to consider and use in
this proceeding, as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely
and responsive public comments that it
receives on or before June 14, 2019. For
information on the Commission’s
privacy policy, including routine uses
permitted by the Privacy Act, see
https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/
privacy-policy.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To
Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) has accepted, subject to
final approval, an agreement containing
a consent order as to LVTR LLC and
Tomi A. Truax (‘‘respondents’’).
The proposed consent order (‘‘order’’)
has been placed on the public record for
30 days for receipt of comments by
interested persons. Comments received
during this period will become part of
the public record. After 30 days, the
Commission will again review the order
and the comments received, and will
decide whether it should withdraw the
order or make it final.
This matter involves the respondents’
use of non-disparagement provisions in
consumer form contracts in the course
of selling their recreational horseback
riding services. The complaint alleges
that the respondents violated Section
2(c) of the Consumer Review Fairness
Act (‘‘CRFA’’) by offering to consumers
form contracts that contained
nondisparagement provisions made
void by Section 2(b) of the CRFA. The
PO 00000
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21785
CRFA defines a form contract as a
contract with standardized terms, used
in the course of selling or leasing goods
or services, and imposed on an
individual without a meaningful
opportunity for such individual to
negotiate the standardized terms.
The order includes injunctive relief
that prohibits these alleged violations
and fences in similar and related
conduct involving the use of contract
terms that prohibit, restrict, penalize, or
transfer rights in consumer reviews or
evaluation of the respondents, their
goods, or their services. The CRFA
authorizes the Commission to seek civil
penalties for knowing violations, but the
complaint does not allege that the
respondents’ violations were knowing,
and the order does not provide for
monetary relief.
Part I prohibits, in the sale or leasing
of any good or service, the respondents
from: Offering to any prospective
customer a contract, or offering to any
customer a renewal contract, that
includes a review-limiting term;
requiring that a customer accept such a
term as a condition of the respondents’
fulfillment of their obligations under
contracts entered into before the
effective date of the order; or attempting
to enforce or assert the validity of such
a term in customer contracts entered
into before the effective date of the
order. Part I would not require that the
respondents publish or host the content
of any person, affect any other legal
duty of a party to a contract, or affect
any cause of action arising from the
breach of such duty.
Part II requires the respondents to
notify customers via their website that
the nondisparagement provisions in
their form contracts are void and cannot
be enforced, and that customers who
entered into contracts with those
provisions can publish their honest
reviews about the respondents, even if
their comments are negative.
Part III requires the respondents to
submit signed acknowledgments that
relevant personnel received the order.
Part IV requires the respondents to
file compliance reports with the
Commission, and to notify the
Commission of bankruptcy filings or
changes in company structure that
might affect compliance obligations.
Part V contains recordkeeping
requirements for personnel records,
consumer contracts, communications
with consumers threatening any legal
action relating to any review; and court
filings and the company’s discovery
responses in legal actions over
consumer reviews, as well as all records
necessary to demonstrate compliance or
noncompliance with the order.
E:\FR\FM\15MYN1.SGM
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21786
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 94 / Wednesday, May 15, 2019 / Notices
Part VI contains other requirements
related to the Commission’s monitoring
of the respondents’ order compliance.
Part VII provides the effective dates of
the order, including that, with
exceptions, the order will terminate in
20 years.
The purpose of this analysis is to
facilitate public comment on the order,
and it is not intended to constitute an
official interpretation of the complaint
or order, or to modify the order’s terms
in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019–09952 Filed 5–14–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Background
[Docket No. CDC–2019–0045]
Updating Federal Guidelines Used by
Public Health Agencies To Assess and
Respond to Potential Cancer Clusters
in Communities
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Request for information.
AGENCY:
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) in the
Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) announces the opening
of a docket to obtain public comment on
updating federal guidelines used by
public health agencies to assess and
respond to potential cancer clusters in
communities. CDC is working with the
Agency for Toxic Substances and
Disease Registry (ATSDR) to develop
updated guidelines to ensure that state,
tribal, local, and territorial (STLT)
public health agencies and stakeholders
have access to information about current
scientific tools and approaches to assess
and respond to potential cancer clusters.
The purpose of this notice is to solicit
feedback on best approaches for
assessing and responding to potential
cancer clusters in communities.
DATES: Written comments must be
received on or before July 15, 2019.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by Docket No. CDC–2019–
0045 by any of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Division of Environmental
Health Science and Practice, National
jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
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22:43 May 14, 2019
Jkt 247001
Center for Environmental Health,
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Attn: Docket No. CDC–
2019–0045, 4770 Buford Highway NE,
Mailstop F–60, Atlanta, Georgia 30341.
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the agency name and
Docket Number. All relevant comments
received will be posted without change
to https://regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. For
access to the docket to read background
documents or comments received, go to
https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alisha Etheredge, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, National Center
for Environmental Health, Division of
Environmental Health Science and
Practice, 4770 Buford Highway NE,
Mailstop F–60, Atlanta, GA 30341;
Telephone: 770–488–4024; Email:
CCGuidelines@cdc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The current guidelines, Investigating
Suspected Cancer Clusters and
Responding to Community Concerns:
Guidelines from CDC and the Council of
State and Territorial Epidemiologists
(2013 Guidelines), were published in
the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly
Report (MMWR) in September 2013 (see
the Supporting & Related Material tab of
this docket). The 2013 Guidelines are a
tool to assist state, tribal, local, and
territorial (STLT) public health agencies
in applying a systematic approach when
responding to inquiries about suspected
cancer clusters in residential or
community settings.
Since publication of the 2013
Guidelines, there have been technical
and scientific advancements in areas
such as data availability, analytic and
geospatial methods, and cancer
genomics. CDC is updating the 2013
Guidelines to ensure that STLT public
health agencies and stakeholders have
access to information about current
scientific tools and approaches to assess
and respond to potential cancer clusters
in communities. The updated guidance
will also provide members of the public
with information about how STLT
public health agencies may address
individual and community concerns
about potential cancer clusters. CDC
will update the 2013 Guidelines based
on input from subject matter experts,
STLT public health agencies, the public,
and other stakeholders.
Supporting Material
The 2013 Guidelines can be found in
the Supporting Materials tab of this
docket or accessed at https://
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www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/
mmwrhtml/rr6208a1.htm.
Public Participation
Interested persons or organizations
are invited to participate by submitting
written views, information,
recommendations, and data. In addition,
CDC invites comments (and supporting
data or other material, if applicable)
specifically on these following
questions:
1. Based on your personal or
professional experience, what are the
best approaches for public health
agencies to:
a. Respond to community concerns
about potential cancer clusters?
b. assess and evaluate potential cancer
clusters?
c. communicate and engage with
affected community members and other
stakeholders throughout all stages of
assessing and responding to a potential
cancer cluster?
2. If you are familiar with the 2013
Guidelines, please answer the following
questions:
a. What are the strengths of the 2013
Guidelines? What would you like to see
retained in the updated guidelines?
Please describe why.
b. What gaps and challenges exist in
the 2013 Guidelines? For stated
challenges, what are possible solutions
to overcoming them?
3. What other factors should CDC
consider when updating the 2013
Guidelines? Please describe why these
factors are important to consider.
Please note that comments received,
including attachments and other
supporting materials, are part of the
public record and are subject to public
disclosure. Comments will be posted on
https://www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
do not include any information in your
comment or supporting materials that
you consider confidential or
inappropriate for public disclosure. If
you include your name, contact
information, or other information that
identifies you in the body of your
comments, that information will be on
public display. CDC will review all
submissions and may choose to redact,
or withhold, submissions containing
private or proprietary information such
as Social Security numbers, medical
information, inappropriate language, or
duplicate/near duplicate examples of a
mass-mail campaign. CDC will carefully
consider all comments submitted during
the process of updating federal
guidelines used by public health
agencies to assess and respond to
potential cancer clusters in
communities.
E:\FR\FM\15MYN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21784-21786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09952]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 182 3098]
LVTR LLC; Analysis To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the complaint and the terms of the consent order--
embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 14, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write: ``LVTR LLC; File No.
182 3098'' on your comment, and file your comment online at https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on the web-based
form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail your comment to
the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the
Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl H. Settlemyer (202-326-2019),
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for May 8, 2019), on the World Wide Web, at
https://
[[Page 21785]]
www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before June 14, 2019.
Write ``LVTR LLC; File No. 182 3098'' on your comment. Your comment--
including your name and your state--will be placed on the public record
of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the
https://www.regulations.gov website.
Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``LVTR LLC; File
No. 182 3098'' on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your
comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of
the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580; or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by
courier or overnight service.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for
making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or
confidential information. In particular, your comment should not
include any sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone
else's Social Security number; date of birth; driver's license number
or other state identification number, or foreign country equivalent;
passport number; financial account number; or credit or debit card
number. You are also solely responsible for making sure that your
comment does not include any sensitive health information, such as
medical records or other individually identifiable health information.
In addition, your comment should not include any ``trade secret or any
commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or
confidential''--as provided by Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C.
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including in
particular competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing
processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular,
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has
been posted on the public FTC website--as legally required by FTC Rule
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website,
unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements
for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel
grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at https://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and
the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws that the
Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to
consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate. The Commission
will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it
receives on or before June 14, 2019. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject
to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order as to LVTR
LLC and Tomi A. Truax (``respondents'').
The proposed consent order (``order'') has been placed on the
public record for 30 days for receipt of comments by interested
persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the
public record. After 30 days, the Commission will again review the
order and the comments received, and will decide whether it should
withdraw the order or make it final.
This matter involves the respondents' use of non-disparagement
provisions in consumer form contracts in the course of selling their
recreational horseback riding services. The complaint alleges that the
respondents violated Section 2(c) of the Consumer Review Fairness Act
(``CRFA'') by offering to consumers form contracts that contained
nondisparagement provisions made void by Section 2(b) of the CRFA. The
CRFA defines a form contract as a contract with standardized terms,
used in the course of selling or leasing goods or services, and imposed
on an individual without a meaningful opportunity for such individual
to negotiate the standardized terms.
The order includes injunctive relief that prohibits these alleged
violations and fences in similar and related conduct involving the use
of contract terms that prohibit, restrict, penalize, or transfer rights
in consumer reviews or evaluation of the respondents, their goods, or
their services. The CRFA authorizes the Commission to seek civil
penalties for knowing violations, but the complaint does not allege
that the respondents' violations were knowing, and the order does not
provide for monetary relief.
Part I prohibits, in the sale or leasing of any good or service,
the respondents from: Offering to any prospective customer a contract,
or offering to any customer a renewal contract, that includes a review-
limiting term; requiring that a customer accept such a term as a
condition of the respondents' fulfillment of their obligations under
contracts entered into before the effective date of the order; or
attempting to enforce or assert the validity of such a term in customer
contracts entered into before the effective date of the order. Part I
would not require that the respondents publish or host the content of
any person, affect any other legal duty of a party to a contract, or
affect any cause of action arising from the breach of such duty.
Part II requires the respondents to notify customers via their
website that the nondisparagement provisions in their form contracts
are void and cannot be enforced, and that customers who entered into
contracts with those provisions can publish their honest reviews about
the respondents, even if their comments are negative.
Part III requires the respondents to submit signed acknowledgments
that relevant personnel received the order.
Part IV requires the respondents to file compliance reports with
the Commission, and to notify the Commission of bankruptcy filings or
changes in company structure that might affect compliance obligations.
Part V contains recordkeeping requirements for personnel records,
consumer contracts, communications with consumers threatening any legal
action relating to any review; and court filings and the company's
discovery responses in legal actions over consumer reviews, as well as
all records necessary to demonstrate compliance or noncompliance with
the order.
[[Page 21786]]
Part VI contains other requirements related to the Commission's
monitoring of the respondents' order compliance.
Part VII provides the effective dates of the order, including that,
with exceptions, the order will terminate in 20 years.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
order, and it is not intended to constitute an official interpretation
of the complaint or order, or to modify the order's terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-09952 Filed 5-14-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
