Title: SHIELD Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Solidifying Habitual and Institutional Explanations of Liability and Defenses Act or the SHIELD Act
This bill provides that in any enforcement action the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must prove a violation of law and may not base the action solely on guidelines, policy statements, or similar guidance.
The bill provides that no guidelines, general statements of policy, or similar guidance issued by the FTC shall confer any rights or bind the FTC or any person, state, or locality to the approach recommended therein. Further, the bill authorizes a defendant in an enforcement action to offer any such guidelines, policy statements, or similar guidance as evidence of compliance with a provision of law that is enforced by the FTC.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2671 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2671

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to specify certain effects of 
 guidelines, general statements of policy, and similar guidance issued 
                    by the Federal Trade Commission.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 20, 2021

Mr. Armstrong introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to specify certain effects of 
 guidelines, general statements of policy, and similar guidance issued 
                    by the Federal Trade Commission.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Solidifying Habitual and 
Institutional Explanations of Liability and Defenses Act'' or the 
``SHIELD Act''.

SEC. 2. EFFECTS OF GUIDELINES, GENERAL STATEMENTS OF POLICY, AND 
              SIMILAR GUIDANCE.

    Section 18(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3)(A) No guidelines, general statements of policy, or similar 
guidance issued by the Commission shall confer any rights upon any 
person, State, or locality, nor shall operate to bind the Commission or 
any person, State, or locality to the approach recommended in such 
guidelines, general statements of policy, or similar guidance. In any 
enforcement action, the Commission shall prove a violation of a 
provision of law enforced by the Commission. The Commission may not 
base an enforcement action on, or execute a consent order based on, 
acts or practices that are alleged to be inconsistent with any such 
guidelines, general statements of policy, or similar guidance, unless 
the acts or practices violate a provision of law enforced by the 
Commission.
    ``(B) In any enforcement action, a defendant may offer as evidence 
of compliance with a provision of law enforced by the Commission, any 
guidelines, general statements of policy, or similar guidance issued by 
the Commission pursuant to that law.''
    ``(C) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to confer any 
authority upon or negate any authority of the Commission to issue 
guidelines, general statements of policy, or similar guidance.''.
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