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FTC Staff Report on Franchise Rule Attracts Many Comments
In general, commenters were supportive of the proposed rule changes and praised the FTC for its detailed approach. An introductory statement in the comment from the law firm Kaufmann, Feiner, Yamin, Gildin & Robbins LLP (New York) called the Staff Report “a remarkable effort to ascertain, and as prudent, incorporate … the desires, needs, and policy positions both of franchisors who will be regulated by the forthcoming revised Franchise Rule, and franchisees whose interests are sought to be protected and advanced thereunder.”
One indication of the overall positive reaction to the proposed changes came in the comments of the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. (NASAA), the organization that spearheaded the writing of the UFOC in 1993. “NASAA agrees with Commission staff that the additional disclosures suggested in the Staff Report would benefit prospective franchisees,” NASAA wrote. “We also agree that some disclosures currently required in the UFOC Guidelines could be stated more clearly, and we concur with many of the clarifications which the Commission staff proposed.” NASAA added that its members who oversee franchise issues at the state level support harmonizing the UFOC with the Franchise Rule when the Rule is completed.
Commenters who wrote from the perspective of franchisees were less sanguine about where the new regulation will wind up. They asked the FTC to take further steps to end the fundamental imbalance of power between franchisors and franchisees. For example, Erik H. Karp of Witmer, Karp & Warner LLP (Boston) termed the “Staff Report's view that that the FTC's authority does not extend to the relationship issues that predominate in franchise disputes and litigation … is simply wrong.”
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