[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21781-21782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09953]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 182 3085]
National Floors Direct, Inc.; Analysis To Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both
the allegations in the complaint and the terms of the consent order--
embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 14, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper, by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Write: ``National Floors
Direct; File No. 182 3085'' on your comment, and file your comment
online at https://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions on
the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, mail
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610 (Annex D),
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center,
400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC
20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl H. Settlemyer (202-326-2019),
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for May 8, 2019), on the World Wide Web, at
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before June 14, 2019.
Write ``National Floors Direct; File No. 182 3085'' on your comment.
Your comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable,
on the https://www.regulations.gov website.
Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online through the https://www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``National
Floors Direct; File No. 182 3085'' on your comment and on the envelope,
and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580; or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at https://www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for
making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive or
confidential information. In particular, your comment should not
include any sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone
else's Social Security number; date of
[[Page 21782]]
birth; driver's license number or other state identification number, or
foreign country equivalent; passport number; financial account number;
or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible for
making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive health
information, such as medical records or other individually identifiable
health information. In addition, your comment should not include any
``trade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . .
is privileged or confidential''--as provided by Section 6(f) of the FTC
Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--
including in particular competitively sensitive information such as
costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices,
manufacturing processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9(c). In particular,
the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the
comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and
must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from
the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9(c). Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in
accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has
been posted on the public FTC website--as legally required by FTC Rule
4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove your comment from the FTC website,
unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements
for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9(c), and the General Counsel
grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at http://www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and
the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws that the
Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to
consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate. The Commission
will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it
receives on or before June 14, 2019. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``Commission'') has accepted, subject
to final approval, an agreement containing a consent order as to
National Floors Direct, Inc. (``respondent'').
The proposed consent order (``order'') has been placed on the
public record for 30 days for receipt of comments by interested
persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the
public record. After 30 days, the Commission will again review the
order and the comments received, and will decide whether it should
withdraw the order or make it final.
This matter involves the respondent's use of non-disparagement
provisions in consumer form contracts in its sale and installation of
flooring and carpeting. The complaint alleges that the respondent
violated Section 2(c) of the Consumer Review Fairness Act (``CRFA'') by
offering to consumers form contracts that contained a non-disparagement
provision made void by Section 2(b) of the CRFA. The CRFA defines a
form contract as a contract with standardized terms, used in the course
of selling or leasing goods or services, and imposed on an individual
without a meaningful opportunity for such individual to negotiate the
standardized terms.
The order includes injunctive relief that prohibits these alleged
violations and fences in similar and related conduct involving the use
of contract terms that prohibit, restrict, penalize, or transfer rights
in consumer reviews or evaluation of the respondent, its goods, or its
services. The CRFA authorizes the Commission to seek civil penalties
for knowing violations, but the complaint does not allege that the
respondent's violations were knowing, and the order does not provide
for monetary relief.
Part I prohibits, in the sale or leasing of any good or service,
the respondent from: Offering to any prospective customer a contract,
or offering to any customer a renewal contract, that includes a review-
limiting term; requiring that a customer accept such a term as a
condition of the respondent's fulfillment of its obligations under
contracts entered into before the effective date of the order; or
attempting to enforce or assert the validity of such a term in a
customer contract entered into before the effective date of the order.
Part I would not require that the respondent publish or host the
content of any person, affect any other legal duty of a party to a
contract, or affect any cause of action arising from the breach of such
duty.
Part II requires the respondent to notify by mail or email
customers with whom it entered into form contracts with a non-
disparagement provision on or after March 14, 2017 that the non-
disparagement provision is void and cannot be enforced, and that those
customers can publish their honest reviews about the respondent, even
if their comments are negative.
Part III requires the respondent to submit signed acknowledgments
that relevant personnel received the order.
Part IV requires the respondent to file compliance reports with the
Commission, and to notify the Commission of bankruptcy filings or
changes in corporate structure that might affect compliance
obligations.
Part V contains recordkeeping requirements for personnel records,
consumer contracts, communications with consumers threatening any legal
action relating to any review; and court filings and the company's
discovery responses in legal actions over consumer reviews, as well as
all records necessary to demonstrate compliance or non-compliance with
the order.
Part VI contains other requirements related to the Commission's
monitoring of the respondent's order compliance.
Part VII provides the effective dates of the order, including that,
with exceptions, the order will terminate in 20 years.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
order, and it is not intended to constitute an official interpretation
of the complaint or order, or to modify the order's terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-09953 Filed 5-14-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P