FTC Eliminates Post-Employment Ethics Clearance Rule; FDIC, IRS Seek PRA Comments

FTC Eliminates Ethics Clearance Rule, Effective September 24, 2026

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a final rule, effective September 24, 2026, eliminating its post-employment ethics clearance requirement and amending its rules of practice at 16 CFR parts 4 and 5. Specifically, the Commission is deleting old § 4.1(b)–(c), which previously contained the ethics clearance rule, and making a corresponding deletion of old § 4.9(b)(10)(ii), which had provided that applications for ethics clearance would be part of the Commission's public record.

The rule states several rationales for the elimination. The Commission explains that the ethics clearance rule is unnecessary because it is duplicative of other laws, regulations, and professional responsibility requirements, and is inconsistent with the rules of other agencies, which do not impose the same substantive or procedural requirements. The Commission further states that because the FTC is one of the few agencies that attempts to impose additional requirements on former employees that exceed government-wide restrictions, the rule has chilled the agency's ability to recruit and hire specialists such as economists and technologists who do not face similar restrictions at other governmental organizations. The Commission also identifies an unintended consequence: the rule could have created a safe harbor protecting former employees from liability for violating 18 U.S.C. 207, because it required the FTC to approve a former employee's participation in a matter if the agency lacked sufficient information to deny clearance, and that approval could provide a defense to violations of Section 207.

In place of the clearance rule, the Commission is adding a cross-reference in new § 4.1(a)(3) to new § 5.30, to remind former employees that they must comply with the post-government employment restrictions described there. New § 5.30 mirrors the government-wide post-employment restrictions on former employees, limiting the type of work they may perform for their new employers, and generally describes the common prohibitions set forth in 18 U.S.C. 207. The Commission is also revising Subpart E (§§ 5.50–5.54), renamed "Disciplinary Actions Concerning Ethics Requirements and Post-Government Employment Restrictions," streamlining and modifying it to conform to current agency practice. Additional changes clarify that all agency employees — including Commissioners, political appointees, and special Government employees — are governed by the executive branch-wide ethics regulations and financial disclosure requirements.

FDIC Seeks Comments on Summary of Deposits Survey Renewal

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is inviting public comment on the renewal of its Summary of Deposits information collection (OMB Control No. 3064-0061), with comments due on or before October 26, 2026. A 60-day comment period notice was previously published in the Federal Register on July 22, 2026, and no comments were received during that period.

The Summary of Deposits is the annual survey of branch office deposits as of June 30 for all FDIC-insured institutions, including insured U.S. branches of foreign banks. According to the notice, all FDIC-insured institutions that operate a main office and one or more branch locations — including limited service drive-thru locations — as of June 30 each year are required to file the SOD Survey, as are insured branches of foreign banks. The document states that all data collected on the SOD submission are available to the public, that the survey data provides a basis for measuring the competitive impact of bank mergers, and that it has additional use in research on banking.

The FDIC reports no change in the substance or methodology of the collection. The change in burden is due solely to a decrease of 657 in the estimated number of respondents, from 11,610 annual respondents in the currently approved collection to the current estimate of 10,953. Under the updated burden estimate, 3,651 respondents each submit 1 response per year at an average of 3 hours per response, yielding a total annual burden of 10,953 hours. The regulation cited is 12 CFR 304.3(c).

IRS Seeks Comments on Tax Return Preparer Complaint Forms

The Internal Revenue Service is inviting comments on the extension of its currently approved information collection for the Tax Return Preparer Complaint Process and Fraud or Misconduct Affidavit (OMB Control No. 1545-2168), with written comments due on or before November 23, 2026.

The collection covers Forms 14157 and 14157-A, which the IRS describes as designed specifically for tax return preparer complaints and include the items necessary for the IRS to evaluate and route to the appropriate function. The forms are used by taxpayers to report allegations of misconduct by tax return preparers. The IRS estimates 7,500 responses annually, at an estimated time per response of 12 minutes, for an estimated total annual burden of 1,593 hours. There is no change to the previously approved information collection.

SBA: Kentucky Disaster Declaration and Privacy Act Correction

The Small Business Administration published notice of a Presidential declaration of a major disaster for Public Assistance Only for the Commonwealth of Kentucky (FEMA-4937-DR), dated September 1, 2026. The incident type is Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides. The primary counties determined to be adversely affected include Bullitt, Butler, Clinton, Cumberland, Garrard, Grayson, Green, Hardin, Henderson, Jackson, Jessamine, Madison, Meade, Mercer, Metcalfe, Ohio, Owsley, Rockcastle, Spencer, and Wayne. The notice states that private non-profit organizations providing essential services of a governmental nature may file disaster loan applications online or in person at locally announced locations. Interest rates applicable to the declaration are set at 3.625 percent for physical damage and economic injury categories applicable to private non-profit organizations.

Separately, the SBA issued a correction to a Federal Register notice originally published September 11, 2026 (FR Doc. 91-57950), concerning a modified Privacy Act matching program under the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019. That program involves the computerized comparison of SBA benefits program records with the U.S. Department of Treasury's Do Not Pay Working System, administered by Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service. The original notice inadvertently omitted the associated Privacy Act System of Records. The correction specifies that the routine use from OMB Memorandum M-25-32 has been added to two systems of records published on September 3, 2026: SBA 20 — Disaster Loans Case Files (91 FR 56700) and SBA 21 — Loan System (91 FR 56703).

What to Watch

• October 26, 2026 — Deadline for public comments to the FDIC on renewal of the Summary of Deposits information collection (OMB No. 3064-0061).
• November 23, 2026 — Deadline for public comments to the IRS on extension of the Tax Return Preparer Complaint Process collection (OMB No. 1545-2168, Forms 14157 and 14157-A).
• September 24, 2026 — Effective date of the FTC's final rule eliminating its post-employment ethics clearance requirement and amending 16 CFR parts 4 and 5.

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