As part of the Biden Administration’s push to prohibit so-called “junk fees,” the Federal Trade Commission has proposed a rule to prohibit the misrepresentation of the total costs of goods and services by omitting mandatory fees from advertised prices. In a new insight, Director of Technology and Innovation Policy Jeffrey Westling walks through the proposed rulemaking and considers how conflicting federal regulations to ban junk fees are likely to cause harmful confusion among firms and consumers.

Westling concludes:

The Biden Administration’s junk fee initiative is likely to have widespread consequences. As several agencies begin to target sector-specific practices they consider “junk fees,” overlapping jurisdiction and conflicting rules could produce significant confusion for both businesses and consumers. Congress should carefully oversee the rulemaking process to ensure the agencies don’t end up doing more harm than good.

Read the analysis