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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations The Commission is amending its rules of practice. The revised rules modernize procedures for rulemakings to define unfair or deceptive acts or practices under the FTC Act to provide for more efficient conduct of rulemaking proceedings. The Commission is also revising these rules to better reflect the agencys organizational structure and authority.

SUMMARY:

DATES:

This rule is effective July 22,
2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Josephine Liu, Assistant General Counsel for Legal Counsel, 202 326
2170, or Kenny Wright, Attorney, 202
3262907, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.
The Federal Trade Commission is revising the rules in part 0 and subpart B of part 1 its rules of practice, 16 CFR parts 0
and 1.
The Commission is amending part 0
to more accurately reflect the agencys current enforcement authority and organizational structure.
The amendments to part 1, subpart B
will govern rulemaking proceedings under Section 18a1B of the Federal Trade Commission Act 15 U.S.C.
57a1B to define unfair or deceptive acts or practices. These amendments modernize the procedures for rulemaking proceedings under Section 18 and ensure conformance with the statutory structure for such proceedings.
The Commission is also making conforming edits to make the rule language more gender-neutral; use active voice instead of passive voice;
replace ambiguous uses of shall with may, will, or must as appropriate; make nonsubstantive grammatical changes; and add and standardize citations to the U.S. Code where appropriate.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Revisions to Part 0Organization The Commission is revising certain provisions in part 0 of its rules to better reflect the agencys current enforcement authority and organizational structure.

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0.3: Hours In 0.3, the Commission is correcting outdated nomenclature: The agencys offices outside of Washington, DC are regional offices, not field offices. The Commission is also clarifying that FTC
offices are generally open from 8:30 a.m.
to 5 p.m., except on Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.

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0.4: Laws Administered In 0.4, the Commission is revising the listing of the various laws under which the Commission exercises enforcement and administrative authority. The Commission now enforces or administers more than 80
laws, which are listed at https
www.ftc.gov/enforcement/statutes. The web page, which is updated regularly, contains summaries of the laws and links to the relevant statutory texts.
Given that the web page is more comprehensive and more useful than a static list of laws, the Commission is amending 0.4 by deleting most items on the list and adding a cross reference to the web page.
0.8: The Chair The Commission is amending 0.8 to designate the Chair to serve as the Chief Presiding Officer or to designate an alternative Chief Presiding Officer for rulemaking proceedings under Section 18a1B of the FTC Act. As Chief Presiding Officer, the Chair will also retain authority to designate another Commissioner or another person who is not responsible to any other official or employee of the Commission as Chief Presiding Officer. In addition, Section 0.8 is also being revised to include information about three units that report to the Office of the Chair: The Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Workplace Inclusion, and the Office of Policy Planning.
0.9: Organization Structure The Commission is deleting the regional offices from the list of principal units included in 0.9. The regional offices operate under the supervision of the Bureaus of Consumer Protection and Competition, so listing the regional offices as principal units is not an accurate description of the agencys organizational structure.
0.11: Office of the General Counsel Section 0.11 is being revised to provide a more detailed description of the situations when the Office of the General Counsel OGC represents the Commission in court or before administrative agencies, and also to add that OGC represents the agency in employment and labor disputes.
0.12: Office of the Secretary The Commission is revising 0.12 to specify that an Acting Secretary can sign Commission orders and official correspondence in the Secretarys absence.

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0.14: Office of Administrative Law Judges In 0.14, to match the changes to 0.8, the Commission is deleting the reference to the Chief Administrative Law Judge serving as the Chief Presiding Officer. The Commission is also deleting a sentence about ALJs being appointed under the authority of the Office of Personnel Management. This sentence is no longer legally accurate after Lucia v.
SEC, 585 U.S. ll, 138 S. Ct. 2044
2018 and Executive Order 13843, 83
FR 32755 2018.
0.16 and 0.17: Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection The Commission is revising 0.16
and 0.17 to harmonize the description of the work performed by the Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection.
Both Bureaus have similar investigative and enforcement responsibilities. The Commission is also clarifying in 0.17
that the Bureau of Consumer Protection BCP may initiate civil penalty proceedings for rule violations and deleting an outdated discussion about BCP maintaining the agencys public reference facilities.
0.19: The Regional Offices The Commission is updating 0.19 to reflect the regional offices current responsibilities and organizational structure. The new language makes clearer that the regional offices are responsible for enforcement as well as investigations. In addition, the regional offices are no longer under the general supervision of the Office of the Executive Director. Instead, they are under the general supervision of the Bureaus of Competition and Consumer Protection and clear their activities through the appropriate Bureau. Section 0.19b is being revised to reflect the various offices current geographic areas of responsibility; to delete the regional offices address information, which can quickly become outdated; and to reflect the fact that the Western Region has split into two separate regions: Western Region Los Angeles and Western Region San Francisco.
0.20: Office of International Affairs The Commission is revising 0.20 to clarify the role of the Office of International Affairs OIA. OIAs responsibilities include handling the FTCs international antitrust and consumer protection missions in coordination and consultation with the appropriate Bureaus; cooperating with foreign authorities on investigations and enforcement; participating in the United States government interagency process to promote agency views on
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