In a potentially significant development for companies subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (CCPA), on Feb. 9, California’s Third District Court of Appeal overturned a Superior Court decision issued in June 2023 that had stayed the enforcement of new CCPA regulations finalized by the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA), first-in-the-nation privacy regulator, previously discussed here. The result of the earlier decision was enforcement of the new CCPA regulations being delayed from July 1, 2023, to March 29, 2024, or one-year from the date the regulations were officially finalized. Following the appellate court’s decision, now the CPPA may enforce the voluminous set of regulations effective immediately.

Another result of the appellate court’s decision appears to be that the precedent for the CPPA having to wait one-year before enforcing new regulations is vacated. As the appellate court notes:

In any event, because there is no “explicit and forceful language” mandating that the Agency is prohibited from enforcing the Act until (at least) one year after the Agency approves final regulations, the trial court erred in concluding otherwise. […] The Chamber was simply not entitled to the relief granted by the trial court. Accordingly, we will grant the Agency’s petition for extraordinary writ relief and allow the trial court to consider any remaining issues concerning the propriety of compelling more prompt development of regulations.

In a statement released by the CPPA, the agency’s Deputy Director of Enforcement noted, “This decision should serve as an important reminder to the regulated community: now would be a good time to review your privacy practices to ensure full compliance with all of our regulations.”

It is unclear at this time whether the petitioners, the California Chamber of Commerce, will seek to petition for a rehearing or a review as part of further appellate process.