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Conference Review: Implementation of FTC Franchise Rule Draws Significant Attention at IFA Legal Symposium
With optional use of the updated Franchise Rule coming on July 1, 2007, and mandatory use beginning on July 1, 2008, the broad outlines of the Rule are well understood in the franchise industry even at this early point. Yet, as franchise attorneys work with individual clients, they are finding unique circumstances under which the Rule's guidance is confusing or even contradictory, particularly during the one-year transition period. Thus, two panel discussions at the International Franchise Association ('IFA') Legal Symposium on May 6-8 in Washington, DC, were the ideal opportunities for attorneys to raise what-if questions with regulators and their fellow franchise attorneys.
Franchise attorneys who see the changes in the Franchise Rule as incremental are interpreting it correctly, said Stephen Toporoff, franchise program coordinator for the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. Speaking on both panels, Toporoff said the rule revision had four 'modest' goals:
- Reduce inconsistency between federal and state franchise laws;
- Reduce compliance costs for franchisors 'where warranted';
- Clarify for franchisees their relationships with franchisors; and
- Reflect technological innovation.
Consensus among panelists at the IFA Legal Symposium is that those goals were met, and compliance will become easier and less costly for franchisors as a result. 'The FTC did a great job assembling input from experts in the industry, representing franchisors and franchisees,' said Joel Buckberg, of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC (Nashville), a panelist at the conference. 'It's a dynamic marketplace, and franchisees are better educated and better able to negotiate in their interests ' and the FTC deserves credit for realizing it.'
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