The Federal Trade Commission is wasting no time getting on board with the Trump Administration’s efforts to streamline government agencies.
Under the leadership of Acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen, the “FTC is moving aggressively to implement Presidential directives aimed at eliminating wasteful, unnecessary regulations and processes,” an April 17 statement from the agency says. “Excessive regulation and bureaucracy can create significant burdens on the public, while diverting scarce resources from the agency’s core mission to protect consumers and promote competition.”
“The FTC will continue to pursue the right answer for consumers, but we will work hard to get there as efficiently as we can,” Ohlhausen said. “We are focusing our resources where they will do the most good for the public and eliminating wasteful, legacy regulations and processes that have outlived their usefulness.”
The following initiatives are already underway:
New groups within the Bureau of Competition and the Bureau of Consumer Protection are working to streamline demands for information in investigations to eliminate unnecessary costs to companies and individuals who receive them.
Both enforcement bureaus are reviewing their dockets and closing older investigations, where appropriate.
The entire agency continues to work to identify unnecessary regulations that are no longer in the public interest.
The Bureau of Consumer Protection is actively reviewing closed data security investigations to extract key lessons for improved guidance and transparency.
The Bureaus of Consumer Protection and Economics are working together to integrate economic expertise even earlier in FTC investigations to better inform agency decisions about the consumer welfare effects of enforcement actions.
Ohlhausen has also established a new initiative to collect and review ideas on process streamlining and operational efficiency opportunities from across the agency.
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