CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCES COVID-19 WILL NOT DELAY CCPA ENFORCEMENT
April 9, 2020
On March 26, 2020, the California Attorney General (AG) announced that the state will not delay the date on which enforcement of California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) begins. The law went into effect on January 1, 2020, but enforcement of its requirements was not set to begin until July. A coalition of more than 60 companies requested that the AG postpone enforcement of the CCPA due to hardships arising from the COVID-19 epidemic. While acknowledging the COVID-19 epidemic, the AG declined to postpone the enforcement because all companies were expected to be in compliance with the law by the January 1, 2020 start date, and the law specifically allows the AG’s office to “look back” to that start date for any given company’s compliance.
Notably, the California AG’s office did not explicitly deny that companies may be able to use COVID-19 as an excuse for non-compliance. However, any such excuse will likely be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Because the COVID-19 epidemic is likely to make many business more vulnerable to cyber attacks, it is recommended that all businesses covered under the CCPA should continue to respond to consumer requests, continue to comply with the CCPA, and continue to be vigilant about any potential for cyber breaches.
If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Sahr (esahr@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6622); Drew Derco (dderco@eckertseamans.com or 202-659-6665), or Andy Orr (aorr@eckertsemans.com or 202-659-6625).
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