United States of America: Attorney General released guidance on regulation on combatting hidden, surprise, or unnecessary fees or charges

On 29 July 2025, the Attorney General's office (AGO) released guidance on the regulation on combating hidden, surprise, or unnecessary fees or charges. The guidance clarifies circumstances in which the regulation does not apply, but clarifies that the AGO reserves the right to apply it to such situations in the future. Circumstances listed as exceptions include air transportation covered by air carriers, the sale of financial securities, certain insurance sales, and mandatory price charges imposed by restaurants. Next, the guidance clarifies that "Government Charges" as defined by the regulation refers to (not exclusively) surcharges applied through a Tourism Destination Marketing District, but that they must still disclose such charges to the customer. Additionally, the guidance clarifies that sellers are not required to display the “Government Charges” associated with the purchase of each individual Product in a Sale of multiple Products, and that it is sufficient to display the total charge per category of "Government Charges". The guidance also clarifies the level of detail required in the description of the purpose of the charge and total price descriptions, including, in particular, cases concerning price dependency. The guidance clarifies that the regulation does not supersede or alter the liability of advertising platforms. The guidance also clarifies certain points regarding disclosures of Negative Option Feature details.