Government policy, regulations, and legal developments affecting global commerce and retail.
Whatnot likely restricts or retires random-allocation card break formats before 1 July 2027, with a California-only carve-out the probable first step. Three signals from late September and early October 2026 point the same way, and 7 December 2026 is the first hard checkpoint.
Indonesia’s four largest marketplaces began withholding 0.5% income tax from sellers on October 1, a month ahead of the announced schedule. Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada and Blibli now deduct at source, with an exemption for merchants under Rp 500 million a year who file a declaration.
The EU General Court dismissed Zalando’s bid to see how Brussels calculated its Digital Services Act supervisory fee, finding disclosure would harm data suppliers and the Commission’s defence. Designated platforms must now pay a levy whose arithmetic they cannot inspect.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson says the agency is preparing Section 6(b) personalized pricing orders, naming delivery, rideshare and air travel as the first targets rather than retail. Walmart answered a patent report the same week by pledging not to use or renew US11687872B2.
California enacted its first state monopolization law on September 30, 2026, and the COMPETE Act takes effect January 1, 2027. It reaches single-firm conduct including monopsony, and only the Attorney General and district attorneys can enforce it.
Korea’s Fair Trade Commission published consolidated dark pattern guidelines on October 6, covering 13 manipulative interface practices with worked examples and a compliance Q&A. The headline rule requires subscription cancellation buttons to sit one click from the post-login screen.
Instacart opened every legal and policy role on its job board inside 23 days, including two regional government affairs seats it says have no current lead. The signals point to a 2027 state legislative fight rather than another federal lawsuit, scored by June 30, 2027.
USDA’s updated SNAP staple food stocking standards take effect for retailers on November 4, 2026, raising the bar to 28 distinct varieties and 84 stocking units per store. More than 250 retailers and 12 Republican senators have asked Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to defer enforcement.
A federal class action in Portland accuses Costco of selling hundreds of products tied to child and forced labor while marketing itself as an ethical sourcer. The suit seeks $200 for each of more than 1.1 million Oregon members, about $220m before punitive damages.
The FTC has settled its first Robinson-Patman Act case in a generation, imposing six years of monitored pricing limits on Southern Glazer’s across 26 states. Chairman Ferguson disclosed that discovery put total annual harm at roughly $15.7m, far below the 2024 complaint’s framing.