| Comment Number: | 522418-07987 |
| Received: | 7/12/2006 9:32:40 AM |
| Organization: | Market America |
| Commenter: | Tim Wydro |
| State: | NY |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
The Business Opportunity Rule proposal is excessive in it's current form. I am all for helping to curb fraud in the Direct Selling industry because it makes the rest of us look bad and hurts our efforts. This new proposal would, however, place unreasonable demands on our industry that are not placed on any other industry, especially the following: " d. (Disclosing)The number of all distributors who have canceled their agreement with Market America within two years; and e. A list of the 10 closest current or past distributors to the prospective distributor, with personal information so that prospective distributors may contact these references." This would be akin to a Human Resources Director at a large corporation having to disclose to a potential employee the number of employees who had left the firm (fired or quit) in the last 2 years and disclosing their names and phone numbers so the potential employee could contact them for a reference. Not only would that HR director have a very hard time recruiting quality people, it would also place a mountain of bureaucratic paperwork on him or her. Franchises are also "business opportunities" where someone is asked to invest their money. I'm sure that potential earnings claims are made in meetings between franchisors and potential franchisees. Would this proposal also apply to franchises? We in the industry all want to see a reduction in fraudulant claims but we must do so while keeping an equal playing field for all similar businesses. Tim Wydro Buffalo, NY