Congress likely to modify Red Flags Rule

Some jewelry companies might be excluded

New York--In response to the concerns of small-business owners, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Oct. 22 allowing some companies to apply for an exclusion from the Red Flags Rule, according to the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC).

The rule, to be enforced beginning Nov. 1, 2009, requires a business to establish an Identity Theft Prevention Program to detect "red flags" that might indicate a criminal's attempt to steal identity information, and to put in place a program to prevent such thefts.

According to the pending legislation, a company applying for an exclusion will qualify if it knows all of its customers or clients individually, or has not experienced incidents of identity theft and identity theft is rare for businesses of that type.

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