The Federal Trade Commission will keep its civil penalty amounts at 2025 levels for the remainder of 2026 after a government shutdown prevented federal officials from producing inflation data required to calculate this year’s increase.
The FTC formally announced the unusual move in a Federal Register notice published September 15. Federal law normally requires agencies to adjust applicable civil monetary penalties annually for inflation, but 2026 will be different.
The reason traces back to the federal government shutdown in late 2025.
Why FTC Penalties Aren’t Increasing in 2026
Under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, federal agencies generally make annual inflation adjustments to civil monetary penalties under their jurisdiction.
The calculation relies on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, or CPI-U, produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Specifically, the annual adjustment depends on comparing CPI-U data for October of the preceding year with October data from the year before that.
But the government shutdown prevented BLS from producing the required October 2025 CPI-U figure.
Without that number, federal agencies didn’t have the data needed to calculate the 2026 adjustment using the formula established by law.
On April 17, the Office of Management and Budget issued Memorandum M-26-11, announcing that there would be no updated cost-of-living multiplier for 2026 and instructing agencies to continue using their 2025 civil monetary penalty amounts.
The FTC’s September notice formally confirms that the agency is following that guidance.
This Isn’t an FTC Decision to Lower Penalties
Consumers and businesses shouldn’t interpret the announcement as the FTC reducing its civil penalties or backing away from enforcement.
The agency isn’t lowering its 2025 penalty levels. It simply isn’t applying the inflation increase that would normally occur in 2026.
The FTC says it will continue applying the penalty amounts established for 2025.
This situation also isn’t unique to the FTC. OMB’s April guidance applies across federal agencies subject to the inflation-adjustment law because they face the same missing October 2025 CPI-U data.
OMB noted that 2026 is the first year since implementation of the 2015 law in which annual adjustments aren’t required because the necessary inflation data aren’t available.
How FTC Civil Penalties Work
The FTC enforces numerous consumer-protection and competition laws, but a civil penalty isn’t automatically available every time the agency believes a business engaged in unfair or deceptive conduct.
The legal authority depends on the particular violation.
For example, the FTC explains in its enforcement guidance that civil penalties can be available for violations of certain FTC rules, statutes, and final Commission orders.
The agency can also use its Penalty Offense Authority in certain circumstances. Under that process, the FTC may seek civil penalties when a company engages in conduct it knows has previously been found unfair or deceptive in a written Commission decision.
The FTC says civil penalties are intended in part to deter conduct that harms consumers and can sometimes exceed the amount a company earned from the misconduct.
The maximum amount applicable to a particular case depends on the law or rule involved and potentially factors such as the number and timing of violations.
Some FTC Penalties Can Reach Tens of Thousands of Dollars Per Violation
The 2025 penalty schedule contains different maximum amounts depending on the statutory provision involved.
For example, the FTC currently says companies that receive certain Notices of Penalty Offenses and then engage in prohibited conduct can face civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation under the applicable 2025 adjustment.
Other statutes enforced by the FTC carry different maximum penalty amounts.
The complete schedule is contained in 16 CFR § 1.98, which lists the inflation-adjusted civil monetary penalties within the Commission’s jurisdiction.
Those are the amounts the FTC will continue using in 2026 rather than applying another inflation adjustment.
Why the September Notice Didn’t Go Through Public Comment
Normally, federal regulatory changes can involve notice-and-comment procedures and a waiting period before taking effect.
This announcement is different because the FTC isn’t changing the regulatory text or establishing new penalty amounts.
Instead, it’s notifying the public that the 2025 amounts will remain in place because the federal government lacks the CPI-U figure needed to calculate the annual adjustment.
The FTC therefore said prior public notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act and a delayed effective date weren’t required.
The notice took effect when it was published in the Federal Register on September 15.
What the 2026 Penalty Freeze Means
For consumers, the announcement doesn’t change what conduct the FTC can investigate or which consumer-protection laws businesses must follow.
For companies subject to statutes, rules, or orders carrying FTC civil penalties, however, it means the maximum inflation-adjusted amounts won’t receive the increase that ordinarily would have occurred in 2026.
The unusual pause stems from missing government inflation data rather than a change in the underlying enforcement laws.
The Office of Management and Budget’s guidance directed federal agencies to continue using their 2025 civil penalty levels, and the FTC’s September notice formally confirms that it will do exactly that.
Consumers and businesses looking for the penalty amount associated with a particular FTC law or rule can consult the agency’s current schedule in 16 CFR § 1.98.
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Amanda Blankenship is the Chief Editor for District Media. With a BA in journalism from Wingate University, she frequently writes for a handful of websites and loves to share her own personal finance story with others. When she isn’t typing away at her desk, she enjoys spending time with her daughter, son, husband, and dog. During her free time, you’re likely to find her with her nose in a book, hiking, or playing RPG video games.