During the Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing of Mark Meador as an FTC commissioner, Senator John Curtis (R-Utah) raised concerns about the Federal Trade Commission’s recently proposed rules targeting the direct selling industry and the millions of U.S. small business owners engaged in the channel.

“Senator Curtis proudly stood up for the direct selling industry, raising concerns similar to those voiced by DSA regarding the FTC’s proposed rulemaking that unfairly aimed at direct selling,” said Dave Grimaldi, CEO of the Direct Selling Association. “Direct selling is a $37B industry supporting 13,000,000 small business owners in the U.S., and contributing $111.4 billion annually to the U.S. economy, supporting supply chains, household spending and government revenues.”  

Senator Curtis secured a commitment from Meador to give full and fair consideration to the direct selling industry's concerns about the two new FTC-proposed rules. These actions would have significant negative consequences for direct sellers.  

“Misleading earnings claims are already illegal,” said Grimaldi. “The proposed rules ignore significant and effective industry self-regulation. We applaud Senator Curtis for his advocacy and steadfast defense of the direct selling channel.”