The National Retail Federation (NRF) welcomed a federal appeals court ruling that payment processing network Pulse can sue Visa. The lawsuit is over practices claimed to reduce competition over who gets to process billions of dollars in debit card transactions each year. “Visa and Mastercard have responded to efforts to bring competition to debit card…
Synthetic Nicotine Products Now Regulated by FDA
During his nomination hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Dec. 14, 2021, Robert Califf stated that he would work to close the so-called “synthetic nicotine loophole” if he was appointed to be the next U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner. The day after the hearing, a bill was…
Merchants Advocate Says Visa, MC Swipe Fees Taking Eggs Out of Easter Baskets
Hidden “swipe” fees charged by big banks and credit card networks to process transactions could cost the average consumer the equivalent of two dozen eggs this Easter and total hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide, the Merchants Payments Coalition said this week. “Banks and card companies will be grabbing eggs out of the Easter basket…
Growth Energy Runs Ad Campaign Pressing E15 Fix
With a new ad campaign, Growth Energy called on President Biden to direct his administration to lift restrictions on the year-round sale of E15 to boost energy security and combat the surge in fuel costs accelerated by the conflict in Ukraine. The campaign will air on FOX, MSNBC and CNN in the Washington, D.C area.…
Ad Campaign Will Highlight Harm of Credit Card Swipe Fees
With fees set to rise in April, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) announced an advertising campaign to educate Congress and other policymakers on high “swipe” fees that credit card networks and big banks charge merchants to process transactions and the impact the fees have on consumers, small businesses and the U.S. economy. “Swipe fees charged in…
Funding Bill Also Lets FDA Regulate Synthetic Nicotine
On Friday, March 11, President Biden signed into law the “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022.” The bill funds the U.S. government through September of 2022 and also includes a section that grants the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products which contain nicotine that is not made or derived from tobacco (e.g., synthetic nicotine). As…
Biden Bans Russian Oil Imports
On March 8, 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order (E.O.) to ban the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal to the United States. This is a significant action with widespread bipartisan support that will target “the main artery of Russia’s economy.” “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and…
Who Verifies Content Levels of CBD and Other Ingredients?
With the U.S. Food & Drug Administration avoiding the regulation of CBD-hemp products, the role of independent, third-party laboratories in verifying the content of those products is especially important. Consumers will want to have confidence in a CBD product before purchasing and using it. In any relatively new industry, providers must overcome consumer doubt.…
SNAP Decisions
When the novel coronavirus hit in spring 2020, record numbers of people signed up for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In 2018, 39.7 million Americans were enrolled, and by 2021, that jumped to 42 million. Because convenience stores account for 45% of the approximate 248,000 SNAP-qualified retailers, these developments equated to more electronic…
Bidi Vapor Granted Judicial Stay of FDA’s Marketing Denial Order
Kaival Brands Innovations Group, the exclusive global distributor of products manufactured by Bidi Vapor, announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has granted a judicial stay of the marketing denial order (MDO) previously issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to Bidi Vapor in September 2021. The ruling, issued…