[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 207 (Friday, October 25, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57429-57431]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-23263]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 192 3008]


Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, LLC; 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 November 25, 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: ``Sunday Riley Modern 
Skincare, LLC; File No. 192 3008'' 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: Michael Ostheimer (202-326-2699), 
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 October 21, 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 November 25, 
2019. Write ``Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, LLC; File No. 192 3008'' on 
your comment. Your comment--including your name and your state--will be 
placed on the

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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 ``Sunday Riley 
Modern Skincare, LLC; File No. 192 3008'' 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 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 November 25, 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 (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent 
order from Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, LLC (``Sunday Riley 
Skincare'') and its Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Sunday Riley 
(collectively ``respondents'').
    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 respondents' marketing of their Sunday 
Riley brand cosmetic products. The respondents have sold their cosmetic 
products through Sephora's website, www.sephora.com, which provides 
consumers the opportunity to leave product reviews. According to the 
complaint, on multiple occasions, Sunday Riley Skincare managers, 
including Ms. Riley, posted reviews of Sunday Riley brand cosmetic 
products on the Sephora website using fake accounts created just for 
that purpose or requested that other employees do so. The complaint 
alleges that the respondents violated Section 5(a) of the FTC Act by 
misrepresenting that certain reviews of Sunday Riley brand products on 
the Sephora website reflected the independent experiences or opinions 
of impartial ordinary users of the products, when they were written by 
Ms. Riley and her employees. The complaint further alleges that the 
respondents deceptively failed to disclose that certain online consumer 
reviews were written by Ms. Riley or her employees.
    The order contains provisions designed to prevent the respondents 
from engaging in similar acts and practices in the future.
    Provision I prohibits the respondents, in connection with the sale 
of any product, from misrepresenting the status of any endorser or 
person providing a review of the product, including misrepresenting 
that the endorser or reviewer is an independent or ordinary user of the 
product.
    Provision II prohibits the respondents from making any 
representation about any consumer or other endorser of a product 
without disclosing, clearly and conspicuously, and in close proximity 
to that representation, any unexpected material connection between the 
consumer or endorser and (1) any respondent, or (2) any other 
individual or entity affiliated with the product. The order defines the 
terms ``clearly and conspicuously,'' ``close proximity,'' and 
``unexpected material connection.''
    Provision III requires that the respondents instruct their 
employees, officers, and agents as to their responsibilities for 
disclosing their connections to any respondent's product they endorse 
and that the respondents obtain signed acknowledgements from them. 
Provision IV mandates that the respondents acknowledge receipt of the 
order, distribute the order to principals, officers, and certain 
employees and agents, and obtain signed acknowledgments from them. 
Provision V requires that the respondents submit compliance reports to 
the FTC one year after the order's issuance and submit notifications 
when certain events occur. Provision VI requires the respondents to 
create certain records for twenty years and retain them for five years. 
Provision VII provides for the FTC's continued compliance monitoring of 
the respondents' activity during the order's effective dates. Provision 
VIII 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

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or order, or to modify the order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-23263 Filed 10-24-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6750-01-P