'Click-to-cancel' rule blocked by court: What it means for your subscriptions

FTC's 'click-to-cancel' rule enforcement delayed

The FTC delayed enforcement of its so-called "click-to-cancel" rule in March, months before it was ultimately blocked by a federal court. LiveNOW from FOX's Christy Matino caught up with attorney Star Kashman to discuss the rule.

The Federal Trade Commission’s "click-to-cancel" rule, which would have made it easier for customers to cancel unwanted subscriptions, has been blocked by a federal court just days before it was set to take effect. 

The FTC rule was set to go into effect on Monday, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said this week that the FTC made a procedural error by failing to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules whose annual impact on the U.S. economy is more than $100 million.

FTC ‘click-to-cancel’ rule 

The backstory:

The Federal Trade Commission’s proposed changes, adopted in October, required businesses to obtain a customer’s consent before charging for memberships, auto-renewals and programs linked to free trial offers.

The Biden administration included the FTC’s proposal as part of its "Time is Money" initiative, a governmentwide initiative that was announced last year with the aim of cracking down on consumer-related hassles.

The Amazon Prime Video logo appears on a smartphone screen next to a login screen with email and password (Photo by Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The FTC said at the time that businesses must also disclose when free trials or other promotional offers will end and let customers cancel recurring subscriptions as easily as they started them.

It was supposed to take effect in March, but the FTC delayed it. It was delayed again in May. 

Dig deeper:

The FTC claimed that it did not have to come up with a preliminary regulatory analysis because it initially determined that the rule’s impact on the national economy would be less than $100 million. An administrative law judge decided that the economic impact would be more than the $100 million threshold.

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The court decided to vacate the rule.

What they're saying:

"While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission’s rulemaking process are fatal here," the court wrote.

The FTC declined to comment. 

FTC sues Amazon

What's next:

The agency is still moving forward with a trial involving Amazon’s Prime program. The trial stems from a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accused Amazon of enrolling consumers in its Prime program without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions.

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The trial is expected to take place next year.