2021 Georgia Code
Title 10 - Commerce and Trade
Chapter 1 - Selling and Other Trade Practices
Article 15 - Deceptive or Unfair Practices
Part 2 - Fair Business Practices Act
§ 10-1-394. Adoption of Rules, Regulations, and Standards Prohibiting Unfair or Deceptive Practices; Application of Chapter 13 of Title 50

1. The Attorney General is authorized to adopt reasonable rules, regulations, and standards appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this part and prohibit specific acts or practices that are deemed to be a violation of this part. The Attorney General is also authorized to adopt as substantive rules that prohibit specific acts or practices in violation of Code Section 10-1-393 those rules and regulations of the Federal Trade Commission interpreting Section 5(a)(1) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. Section 45(a)(1)), as from time to time amended.
2. Chapter 13 of Title 50, the "Georgia Administrative Procedure Act," shall apply to the promulgation of rules and regulations by the Attorney General pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section and in taking testimony pursuant to Code Sections 10-1-403 and 10-1-404.

(Ga. L. 1975, p. 376, § 4; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1088, § 2/SB 148.)

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted "Attorney General is authorized to adopt reasonable rules, regulations, and standards appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this part and prohibit specific acts or practices that are deemed to be a violation of this part. The Attorney General is also authorized to adopt as" for "administrator is authorized to adopt as" in subsection (a); deleted former subsection (b), which read: "Such rules shall be promulgated only when it is determined by the administrator, in the reasonable exercise of his discretion, on the basis of his expertise and facts, submissions, evidence, and all information before him, that such rules are needed to prohibit or control acts or practices which create the probability of actual and substantial injury to consumers. No rule shall be promulgated where it is reasonably certain that the burden of complying with the rule will outweigh the public interest in prohibiting or controlling the practice which would be so prohibited or controlled. No such rule so promulgated shall be arbitrary or capricious nor shall its promulgation be characterized by an abuse of discretion or an unwarranted exercise of discretion."; redesignated former subsection (c) as present subsection (b) and substituted "Attorney General" for "administrator" in such subsection; and deleted former subsection (d), which read: "The Consumer Advisory Board shall be authorized to ratify or veto rules promulgated by the administrator at its next regular meeting after the rules are promulgated by the administrator under the provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 50."

- For comment, "The Georgia Fair Business Practices Act: Business As Usual," see 9 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 453 (1993).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Federal Trade Commission Act standards applicable.

- Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45, is expressly made the appropriate standard by which the purpose and intent of the Fair Business Practices Act, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-390 et seq., is to be effectuated, implemented, and construed. Zeeman v. Black, 156 Ga. App. 82, 273 S.E.2d 910 (1980).

Cited in Bennett v. D.L. Claborn Buick, Inc., 202 Ga. App. 308, 414 S.E.2d 12 (1991).