On October 22, the Federal Trade Commission announced that enforcement of the new “Red Flags Rule” will be suspended until May 1, 2009.  The action was taken to give creditors and financial institutions, which includes some government entities, more time to development and implement a written identity theft prevention program.  The FTC acknowledged that many entities were not aware that they were subject to the Rule and had learned of the Rule’s requirements too late to come into compliance by the November 1, 2008 deadline.

 

The FTC’s announcement can be found at:

 http://ftc.gov/opa/2008/10/redflags.shtm.