Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that, as part of its systematic review of all current FTC rules and guides, it is starting a review of the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule.  This rule requires business opportunity sellers to give prospective buyers specific information to help them evaluate business opportunities -- so that "prospective purchasers have the information they need in order to assess the risks of buying a work-at-home program or any other business opportunity."  

The FTC conducts reviews of its rules and guides roughly every ten years.  Currently, the FTC has twenty-three of its rules and guides under review.  For example, the FTC began a review of its Endorsement Guides in February 2020.  In 2020 and (so far) in 2021, the FTC completed reviews of the Contact Lens Rule and the Prohibition of Energy Market Manipulation Rule.  

In connection with the FTC's announcement, Commissioner Rohit Chopra issued a separate statement, calling on the FTC to use its rulemaking authority to make victims whole and deter misconduct. He said that, "Across multiple administrations, Commissioners failed to take even the most basic steps to trigger sanctions for egregious fraud."  He urged the FTC to "comprehensively review our consumer protection rules and amend them to incorporate widely accepted precedent and prohibitions.  This will allow the FTC to make victims whole, and will help turn the page on the agency's perceived powerlessness."