Government policy, regulations, and legal developments affecting global commerce and retail.
A San Francisco judge denied California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s request for a preliminary injunction against Amazon in the state’s retail price-fixing case. The claims survive intact and go to trial on January 19, 2027.
USTR set the 2026 Notorious Markets issue focus on superfakes and opened docket USTR-2026-0529, with comments due October 7. Three August signals point to a list, likely published in Q1 2027, that names the social, messaging and resale surfaces where high-quality counterfeits actually sell.
The EU Data Act’s data access by design obligation applies to connected products placed on the market after September 12, 2026, splitting retail catalogues in two. Sellers already carry a live pre-contractual disclosure duty under Article 3(2).
The EU Cyber Resilience Act’s reporting duties begin on September 11, 2026, forcing a 24-hour early warning on actively exploited vulnerabilities in connected products. Retailers selling own-brand smart devices are treated as manufacturers, putting the clock on their side of the contract.
Packaging is likely to become a named, per-material cost line in US e-commerce, with the trigger a binding California fee schedule due at CalRecycle in October 2026 and first producer invoices in January 2027. Oregon’s first-year rates already price flexible film up to roughly 47 times corrugated fiber per pound, and the mailer mix is the most exposed variable.
The FTC opened public comment on a proposed enforcement policy statement declaring that undisclosed personalized pricing likely violates Section 5 of the FTC Act. Retailers get 30 days once the notice hits the Federal Register, against a state patchwork that is already binding.
US SNAP enrollment fell nearly 13% year over year to just over 37 million people, with 49 of 50 states declining. At the same time, every SNAP-authorized retailer must meet a tougher USDA staple food stocking standard by November 4, 2026.
A US action treating undisclosed commercial steering of AI product recommendations as deception is likely by 31 March 2027, with a state attorney general the likelier first mover than the FTC. Three independent signals from July and August 2026 point the same way, and one design detail argues against it.
Three regulatory signals from the past five weeks point to US marketplace product-safety escalation arriving through customs and import-data enforcement rather than platform rulemaking. The first attributable action is likely before the end of Q1 2027.
The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation entered into application on 12 August 2026, replacing a directive that governed the bloc’s packaging rules for three decades. A PFAS restriction, new conformity documentation and marketplace verification duties bite immediately, while the heavier design rules wait until 2030.