ANA Urges California Attorney General to Clarify Key Provisions of California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
ANA has urged the California Attorney General to clarify several key provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Chris Oswald, Senior Vice President for Government Relations, testified January 14th at a hearing in San Diego hosted by the AG’s office. The Attorney General must adopt regulations to implement the CCPA by July 1, 2020 and is holding six forums across the state for public input. Our comments argue that the CCPA, as drafted, will have several serious unintended consequences for both consumers and marketers and we urged the AG to make important clarifications.
“Privacy is an extraordinarily important value that deserves meaningful support in the marketplace and ANA supports the underlying goal of the CCPA to protect the privacy of consumers,” said Dan Jaffe, Group Executive Vice President of Government Relations for ANA. “However, we believe that some aspects of the law, while well-intended, will actually undermine rather than enhance consumer privacy. Some changes will require legislation, but the AG plays a critical role in interpreting and clarifying the new law and we made five specific recommendations for them to address.”
Jaffe noted: “The CCPA has numerous serious defects which will severely impact the ability to advertise online. It was rushed through both houses of the legislature and delivered to the governor in less than a week, so there was no opportunity for thoughtful consideration.” Jaffe stated: “We are working with our member companies and other industry groups to push for legislation this year to address some of the most serious problems with the Act. In the meantime, we are urging the Attorney General to clarify five specific issues in the law.”
“One of the most important areas we discussed was the need to preserve the ability of marketers to offer loyalty programs to their customers,” Jaffe stated. “There are conflicting provisions in the law which need clarification. Loyalty programs allow businesses to maintain and foster positive relationships with consumers. They provide consumers significant benefits in the form of lower prices and access to special offers. We urge the AG to allow companies to continue to offer these programs.”
Jaffe concluded: “We will be submitting more detailed written comments to the AG in the next several weeks. We look forward to working with the AG as final regulations implementing the CCPA are developed.”
To learn more about ANA and the efforts of the marketing community to protect the responsible use of consumer data in the online marketplace, visit www.ana.net
About the ANA:
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) makes a difference for individuals, brands, and the industry by driving growth, advancing the interests of marketers and promoting and protecting the well-being of the marketing community. Founded in 1910, the ANA provides leadership that advances marketing excellence and shapes the future of the industry. The ANA’s membership includes more than 2,000 companies with 15,000 brands that collectively spend or support more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually. The membership is comprised of more than 1,100 client-side marketers and more than 800 marketing solutions provider members, which include leading agencies, law firms, suppliers, consultants and vendors. Further enriching the ecosystem is the work of the nonprofit ANA Educational Foundation (AEF) which has the mission of enhancing the understanding of advertising and marketing within the academic and marketing communities.