^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

Clinton Administration Proposes Enhanced Consumer Privacy Legislation for the Financial Services Industry.

In a recent "Regulatory Action of the Week," CRE reported on the proposed rule issued jointly by a number of federal banking agencies designed to implement the consumer privacy protections of the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. (See CRE past Regulatory Action of the Week Items, "Federal Banking Agencies Have Issued Proposed Rules Which Deal with the Privacy of Consumer Information.")

At the end of the article, CRE asked whether the statutory provision governing consumer privacy should be revisited. Now the Clinton Administration has addressed the same question by proposing amendments that would strengthen the ability of individual consumers to prevent unwanted disclosures among affiliated financial institutions. Under the Clinton-Gore proposal:

• Consumers would have an "opt-out" right, under which they could prevent a company from sharing information with an unaffiliated company. The consumer would have to send a card or an e-mail to the company.
• Consumers would have an even stronger "opt-in" right, under which a company could not share certain types of information, such as health-related information or detailed financial information, unless the consumer affirmatively consented in advance. This would put the onus on the company to contact the consumer, rather than proceeding based on the failure of the consumer to act.

CRE invites all interested parties to submit comments on these issues to CRE's Interactive Public Docket.

Please click below to submit comments to the CRE regarding the proposed Enhanced Consumer Privacy Legislation.
Enhanced Consumer Privacy Legislation: Interactive Public Docket

View past ^®:CRE Regulatory Action of the Week items