FTC Launches Public Inquiry – Anticompetitive Regulations on the Chopping Block

On April 9, President Trump issued an Executive Order instructing agency heads, in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Attorney General, to complete a review of all regulations subject to their rulemaking authority and to identify those that:

(a) Create or facilitate the creation of monopolies;(b) Create unnecessary barriers to entry for new market participants;(c) Limit competition between competing entities;(d) Create or facilitate licensure or accreditation requirements that unduly limit competition;(e) Unnecessarily burden the FTC‘s procurement processes, thereby limiting companies’ ability to compete for procurements; or(f) Otherwise impose anticompetitive restraints on the operation of the free market.[1]

The order further provides that: (i) within 70 days of the date of the order, agency heads must provide the FTC Chairman and the Attorney General with a list of regulations that fall within the above categories; and (ii) within 10 days of the date of the order, the FTC Chairman must issue a request for information (RFI) that seeks public input on the identification of those regulations.

In response to the order, the FTC on Monday issued an RFI.

The RFI invites members of the public to comment on issues or concerns that are relevant to the agency’s objective of identifying what it describes as unnecessarily onerous regulations that can operate to exclude new market participants, protect dominant incumbents and predetermine economic winners and losers.

To that end, the agency requests commenters to identify particular federal regulations that fall into categories (a)-(f) above and provide, among other things:

• Identifying information as to each regulation;

• Specific language in the regulation and any regulatory guidance that is relevant to the anticompetitive effect;

• Information on any currently applicable legal authority interpreting, applying or enforcing the regulation;

• An explanation as to how and in what circumstances the regulation operates or may potentially operate in regard to anticompetitive effects; and

• An explanation as to why the regulation should be eliminated or modified.

The RFI provides that comments must be received no later than May 27, 2025.

In a Presidential Memorandum also issued on April 9, the President directed agencies to rescind regulations that are considered unlawful under 10 recent landmark Supreme Court decisions. This Memorandum will be discussed and analyzed in a forthcoming post.

[1] On Mar. 27, the Department of Justice announced that it was launching an Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force whose stated purpose is to advocate for the elimination of anticompetitive state and federal laws and regulations.