ILO's specialist editor for the Competition & Antitrust Newsletter, Adam Bell, recently interviewed Vic Domen, partner at Norton Rose Fullbright LLP and former Antitrust Task Force chair for the National Association of Attorneys General about various consumer protection issues that are arising in the United States as a result of COVID-19.
- We have heard quite a bit about the US Federal Enforcer's responses to the potential price gouging of consumers, but is there another enforcer of competition and consumer protection law that we should consider – for instance, state attorneys general?
- Under what authority do state attorneys general get their enforcement powers over price gouging?
- Is the COVID-19 pandemic different from other more typical states of emergency such as hurricanes and, if so, why?
- Can you give some examples of some of the state attorneys general price gouging enforcement efforts resulting from COVID-19?
- Will these state attorneys general investigations or prosecutions continue after the current emergency?
