The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has adopted changes to its “Policy on Ex Parte Presentations in Rulemaking Proceedings.”
According to the CFPB: “Most of the revisions in the updated policy are non-substantive, and do not affect the scope or requirements under the policy. Instead, they clarify the policy’s provisions and requirements, ensure consistency in terminology throughout the policy, make technical amendments, and facilitate compliance with the procedures in the policy.
Under the CFPB’s policy, an “ex parte presentation” means “any written or oral communication” by “any person outside the CFPB that imparts information or argument directed to the merits or outcome of a rulemaking proceeding.”
The policy generally requires anyone who communicates with the CFPB about a pending rulemaking to submit a written copy of the presentation (or a summary of an oral presentation) to the CFPB and the public rulemaking docket within a specified period after the communication.
The policy does, however, make a few substantive changes.
For instance, as originally adopted, the policy required copies or summaries of presentations be submitted to the CFPB at least three business days prior to the presentation. The CFPB has changed the policy to extend that period to 10 business days.
Also, the policy had directed persons submitting ex parte presentation materials to also file them directly with the public rulemaking docket at www.regulations.gov. The updated policy only requires the materials be submitted electronically to the CFPB, which then will post them on the public rulemaking docket.
The updated policy creates an exemption from its requirements for ex parte presentations “by state attorneys general or their equivalents, state bank regulatory authorities, or state agencies that license, supervise, or examine the offering of consumer financial products or services, including their offices or staff, when acting in their official capacities.”
The CFPB stated that it created the exemption because, “communications from these entities have at times been sensitive, and the CFPB believes that these entities are likely to provide more frank and robust feedback if communications are not subject to the disclosure requirements of the policy.”