The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was active in the consumer protection space, announcing two Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). The focus was on deceptive pricing, particularly with housing and automobiles. The FTC issued an ANPRM to address unfair or deceptive fee practices in the rental housing market, distributed checks to consumers negatively impacted by a landlord, and sent warning letters to auto dealership groups across the country. These stories and more after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Updates (March 9-13, 2026)

The FTC had a relatively quiet week, with only one notable update from the agency. On March 5, Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige delivered remarks at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, outlining the FTC’s ongoing enforcement priorities—including fair ticketing practices, payment system integrity, and actions to stop deceptive negative option subscriptions. More on these enforcement priorities after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Updates (March 2-6, 2026)

On February 12, 2026, a bipartisan group of legislators in Maryland proposed the Maryland Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act. This proposed legislation would amend the Maryland Consumer Protection Act to establish a sweeping regulatory framework for AI-enabled toys sold in the state, covering any device that uses machine learning, conversational AI, behavioral modeling, or similar computational processes and is marketed to or primarily used by children. This proposed legislation adds to a growing trend of increasing efforts, at both the federal and state levels, to regulate the use of AI in products and services used by children.  

Continue Reading Maryland’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act: State-Level Regulation Fills the Federal Void on AI in Children’s Products

With the agency still operating with three Commissioner vacancies, the FTC took a range of notable actions in mid-February, spanning consumer data protection, health claims enforcement, labor market competition, and digital platform accountability. The agency’s activity to wrap February pertained primarily to rulemaking, seeking public comment about competitor collaboration, and holding a workshop about consumer data and privacy. The Commission also issued a policy statement about enforcement of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. These stories and more after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Updates (February 9-13, 23-27, 2026)

Day 4 marked the close of the ICPHSO 2026 Annual Meeting & Training Symposium in Orlando, Florida following a jam-packed week of education, exploration, and meaningful dialogue about the future of product safety and regulatory compliance in the U.S. and beyond. The day began with the traditional passing of the gavel to welcome incoming ICPHSO president Dani Cugini while acknowledging and celebrating the accomplishments of outgoing President Chris Harvey.  

Then, in a first ever for ICPHSO, participants were thrust into the Courtroom for a mock-trial experience, giving many product safety professionals their first inside look at the complexities and challenges of litigating safety and products liability issues. Crowell’s “court reporter,” Sean Ward, was on the scene with a riveting recap of all the action. As court was called to recess, Day 4’s short program concluded with a series of plenary sessions highlighting the consumer perspective and the need for inclusive and proactive safety solutions that recognize the dynamic challenges faced by vulnerable populations and ensure accessibility to safety information for all. 

Below is a closer look at select sessions from the final day of ICPHSO 2026. 

Continue Reading Day 4 of the ICPHSO Symposium: Courtroom Drama & Consumer Voices  

Day three of the ICPHSO Annual Meeting & Training Symposium in Orlando, Florida brought another packed slate of sessions, and the Crowell team was present throughout to capture the day’s key insights and conversations. Across panels spanning right-to-repair, online marketplace regulation, recall collaboration, and international risk assessment, a single urgent question surfaces: as products, supply chains, and consumer behaviors grow more complex, how do regulators, manufacturers, retailers, and platforms share — and sometimes contest — the responsibility for keeping consumers safe? Day three made clear that the answer increasingly demands cooperation, not just compliance.

Below is a closer look at select sessions from the day and the key takeaways that resonated with attendees.

Continue Reading Day Three of the ICPHSO Symposium: Redefining Responsibility — Who Protects the Consumer in a Changing Marketplace?

From Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reporting on PFAS to increasing U.S. state-level requirements around chemicals in products, manufacturers, retailers, and suppliers are required to understand the makeup of the products they sell, down to a molecular level. From their position downstream of complex supply chains, retailers must implement and manage the data gathering and supply chain verification necessary to meet these reporting obligations. 

As our panelists at the ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Symposium made clear, the world of chemical reporting is growing more complex every year, posing new challenges — and opportunities — for everyone from manufacturers and retailers to regulators and consumers. 

The panel was moderated by Luisa Lobo of the Retail Industry Leaders Association with speakers Amy Symonds of Crowell & Moring, Travis Sjostrom of Best Buy, and Krystal Spickler of UL Solutions. 

Here are the four key areas discussed. 

Continue Reading The Ever-Expanding Chemical Reporting Universe at ICPHSO: A Look at Reporting Requirements and Approaches 

The FTC has been busy sending money to consumers harmed by unfair or deceptive business acts or practices. The Commission has also announced a settlement with healthcare companies related to the cost of insulin drugs and released a recent report regarding it focus on privacy and cybersecurity. More on this news after the jump.

Continue Reading FTC Updates (February 2 – February 6, 2026)

Innovation is a word that carries real weight in product safety. Is there an emerging “duty to innovate” — a duty to proactively adopt feasible, safer technologies — or is innovation simply a good practice that may also reduce risk? That is exactly what a panel of industry and legal professionals tackled at this year’s ICPHSO Annual Meeting & Training Symposium, with the goal of surfacing a practical toolkit for product safety professionals on when to push innovation, how to document feasibility and tradeoffs, and how to navigate regulatory momentum without stalling products that should go to market.

The panel brought together four voices with rare depth across law, engineering, and corporate governance: Kyran Hoff of GE Appliances, Meghan McMeel of Crowell & Moring, John McNulty of Google LLC, and moderator George Wray of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.

Here are the four key themes that shaped the conversation.

Continue Reading Is There a Duty to Innovate? Key Takeaways From ICPHSO’s Most Timely Panel

Tuesday, February 24 was the second day of the ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Symposium in Orlando, Florida. The Crowell team was on the ground throughout the day, and the sessions did not disappoint. From cybersecurity standards for IoT devices and the European Union’s (EU) sweeping new compliance obligations — the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), and Digital Product Passports — to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) eFiling deadlines and the challenge of age-grading products in a social media landscape, the recurring question was the same: how do regulators, companies, and standards bodies stay ahead of a marketplace that never stops moving?

With that backdrop in mind, here are some highlights from the day’s sessions and key takeaways for product safety professionals today.

Continue Reading Day Two of the ICPHSO Symposium: The Race to Keep Pace — Regulation in a Fast-Moving World