On November 6, 2024, WLF filed comments with the Federal Trade Commission urging it to clarify that a rule setting new requirements for the promotion of amplification equipment does not apply retroactively. Four days after publishing a final Amplifier Rule, an FTC attorney indicated in email correspondence with an electronics trade association that the Rule would apply to products manufactured before the new requirements take effect. The trade association asked FTC to further amend the rule to clarify its prospective effect. WLF argued that basic notions of fair notice reflected in the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and Article I’s Ex Post Facto Clauses, as well as Supreme Court jurisprudence on retroactivity, compel FTC to implement the association’s request.

Documents

WLF comment