Announced Action for May 24, 2005

Issuance of response concerning the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: The Commission has authorized the staff to issue a response to California’s Flagstar Bank (Flagstar), which had requested a preemption determination under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Financial Privacy Act. Flagstar’s request referenced California’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 2003 and asked whether it is inconsistent with and/or preempts the federal GLB Act. The FTC has the authority to respond to such preemption determination requests under section 507 of the GLB Act, which provides that the Act will not preempt any state laws except to the extent that they are “inconsistent” with the GLB Act and fail to provide “greater protection” than the federal law. In its response to Flagstar’s request, the FTC staff stated that because there is no inconsistency between the state and federal law, there is no preemption and no need to reach the “greater protection” analysis.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to issue the response to Flagstar Bank was
5-0. A copy of the letter can be found as a link to this press release on the FTC’s Web site. (FTC File No. 002-3054; the staff contact is Jessica L. Rich, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-2148; see related press release dated June 21, 2001.)

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.