Announced Action for July 19, 2004

Extension of comment period: The Commission has extended the deadline for submitting comments on the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) Proposed Affiliate Marketing Rule until August 16, 2004. Section 214 of FACTA requires the FTC, the Federal banking agencies, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue coordinated regulations to give consumers the choice to "opt out" before a company uses certain information provided by an affiliate to market its products or services to the consumer. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was originally published in the Federal Register on June 15, 2004, with a deadline of July 20, 2004, to submit responsive comments. The Commission vote to extend the comment deadline to August 16, 2004 was 5-0. This extension will be published shortly in the Federal Register.

Comments can be filed electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. Commentors should select "Federal Trade Commission" at "Search for Open Regulations," locate the summary of this notice, click on "Submit a Comment on this Regulation," and complete the form. Written comments should refer to "FACT Act Affiliate Marketing Rule, Matter No. R411006" on both the envelope and the text, and should be mailed or delivered to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-159 (Annex Q), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Comments containing confidential material must be filed in paper form. Any comment filed in paper form should be sent by courier or overnight service because U.S. postal mail is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. Comments on any proposed filing, recordkeeping, or disclosure requirements that are subject to paperwork burden review under the Paperwork Reduction Act should additionally be submitted to: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for Federal Trade Commission, and should be submitted via fax at 202-395-6974 because U.S. postal mail at the Office of Management and Budget is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. Such comments should also be mailed to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-159 (Annex Q), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC's Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and also from the FTC's Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.