The Federal Trade Commission will delay enforcement of the new "Red Flag Rule" until November 1, 2009, to give creditors and financial institutions more time to develop and implement written identity theft prevention programs. The announcement does not affect other federal agencies' enforcement of the original November 1, 2008 compliance deadline for institutions subject to their oversight.

The news comes as a welcome relief to many in the water and wastewater industry. Because the confusion concerning the applicability of this rule to utilities, many water and wastewater systems would have been unable to comply by the rule's original deadline of November 1, 2008.

The Red Flag Rule requires banks and other types of creditors, including utilities, to adopt an Identity Theft Protection Program. In order to comply, the entity must adopt the program, train employees according to the program's directives and establish a schedule of periodic updates to address program flaws or miscalculations. TRWA members can click here to read the complete article featured in the November/December issue of Quality On Tap!

To read the the FTC's alert regarding the the rule's requirements and affected entities, click here. To read the FTC's press release regarding the deadline extension, click here.

The National Rural Water Association has developed a template for the water and wastewater industry to help systems comply with the new rule. Click here to download the NRWA template in Microsoft Word format.