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The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently issued new regulations codifying specific criteria for interpreting its fundamental regulatory authority under 49 U.S.C. section 41712 to prohibit airlines from engaging in “unfair or deceptive practices.” DOT’s purpose in adopting these regulations is to provide “greater clarity and certainty about [DOT’s] interpretation of unfair or deceptive practices and process for making such determinations in the context of aviation consumer protection rulemaking and enforcement actions.” DOT Final Rule at 78707. DOT’s new regulations become effective on January 6, 2021.
Although DOT has enjoyed the statutory authority at issue in this proceeding since the early 1980s, this is the first time that DOT has formally articulated how it interprets the terms “unfair” and “deceptive.” This is important because DOT has relied on this statutory authority as t