The White House has just released the Biden Administration's "Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions," which reports on regulatory actions that federal agencies are planning to take.  

Here are some of the highlights of what the FTC said that it is planning to do on the advertising front.

Newly Initiated and Upcoming Reviews

The FTC said that, in 2022, it plans to begin reviews of the FTC's "Guides Against Deceptive Pricing," "Guide Concerning Use of the Word 'Free' and Similar Representations," and "Guides for the Use of Environmental Claims."  

In addition, the FTC said that, in late 2021, the FTC plans to begin a review of the "Business Opportunity Rule."  And, regarding a review of the "Amplifier Rule" that began in late 2020, FTC staff anticipates submitting a recommendation for further action to the Commission by February 2022. 

Ongoing Reviews

Regarding the ongoing review of the "Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule," the FTC noted that, although the public comment period ended in late 2019, the FTC staff is still analyzing and reviewing the public comments.  Regarding the ongoing review of the FTC's "Endorsement Guides," the FTC noted that the public comment period ended in mid 2020 and that the FTC staff is still reviewing those comments as well.  The FTC gave no indication about when it expects to take further action in these areas.

In 2019, the FTC begin a review of the "Leather Guides."  The FTC said that its staff anticipates submitting a recommendation for further action by the Commission later this month. 

The FTC also issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the "Negative Option Rule" in 2019.  The FTC said that it "is studying various options, but the next expected action is undetermined."

Regarding the review of the "Telemarketing Sales Review" that begin in 2014, the FTC staff said that it anticipated making a recommendation to the Commission last month.