§ 1616 — Board Review Of Consumer Credit Plans And Regulations

(a) Not later than 2 years after the effective date of this Act and every 2 years thereafter, except as provided in subsection (c)(2), the Board shall conduct a review, within the limits of its existing resources available for reporting purposes, of the consumer credit card market, including— (1) the terms of credit card agreements and the practices of credit card issuers; (2) the effectiveness of disclosure of terms, fees, and other expenses of credit card plans; (3) the adequacy of protections against unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to credit card plans; and (4) whether or not, and to what extent, the implementation of this Act and the amendments made by this Act has affected— (A) cost and availability of credit, particularly with respect to non-prime borrowers; (B) the safety and soundness of credit card issuers; (C) the use of risk-based pricing; or (D) credit card product innovation. (b) In connection with conducting the review required by subsection (a), the Board shall solicit comment from consumers, credit card issuers, and other interested parties, such as through hearings or written comments. (1) Following the review required by subsection (a), the Board shall publish a notice in the Federal Register that— (A) summarizes the review, the comments received from the public solicitation, and other evidence gathered by the Board, such as through consumer testing or other research; and (B) either— (i) proposes new or revised regulations or interpretations to update or revise disclosures and protections for consumer credit cards, as appropriate; or (ii) states the reason for the determination of the Board that new or revised regulations are not necessary. (2) In the event that the Board materially revises regulations on consumer credit card plans, a review need not be conducted until 2 years after the effective date of the revised regulations, which thereafter shall be treated as the new date for the biennial review required by subsection (a). (d) The Board shall report to Congress not less frequently than every 2 years, except as provided in subsection (c)(2), on the status of its most recent review, its efforts to address any issues identified from the review, and any recommendations for legislation. (e) The Federal banking agencies (as that term is defined in section 1813 of title 12) and the Federal Trade Commission shall provide annually to the Board, and the Board shall include in its annual report to Congress under section 247 of title 12, information about the supervisory and enforcement activities of the agencies with respect to compliance by credit card issuers with applicable Federal consumer protection statutes and regulations, including— (1) this Act, the amendments made by this Act, and regulations prescribed under this Act and such amendments; and (2) section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act [15 U.S.C. 45], and regulations prescribed under the Federal Trade Commission Act [15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.], including part 227 of title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as prescribed by the Board (referred to as “Regulation AA”).