FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Matthew Haller, 202-662-0770

Jenna Weisbord, 202-662-0766

mhaller@franchise.org

jweisbord@franchise.org

IFA PRAISES EFFORT TO HELP FRANCHISE SMALL BUSINESSES PARTICIPATE IN REGULATORY DEVELOPMENT

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2013—The International Franchise Association today praised House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves’ (R-MO) new initiative to help small businesses, including America’s 825,000 franchise businesses, participate in the development of federal regulations through a new web site, “Small Biz Reg Watch,” that will instruct business owners on how they can make comments to the federal agency considering the proposed regulation.

“Franchise small businesses are on every Main Street in American and are responsible for the creation of one out of every eight private sector jobs, but the proliferation of regulations on health care, workforce policy, tax compliance and on financial institutions throw a wet blanket on job creation in our industry,” said Judith Thorman, IFA Senior Vice President of Government Relations & Public Policy. “We applaud Chairman Graves and look forward to working with him to promote this new resource to our membership and ensure the concerns of the franchising industry are heard before a rule is finalized by government agencies.”

Small businesses bear a 36 percent higher cost than their larger firm counterparts, according to a study by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) .In the franchising industry, regulations such as the employer mandate provision in the Affordable Care Act, will add more than $6.4 billion in increased costs to franchise businesses, in addition to the cost of regulatory compliance. Many of these regulations have yet to be made final and are included in the the Committee’s initial list of regulations that may have a significant economic impact on small businesses.

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About the International Franchise Association

The International Franchise Association is the world’s oldest and largest organization representing franchising worldwide. Celebrating over 50 years of excellence, education and advocacy, IFA works through its government relations and public policy, media relations and educational programs to protect, enhance and promote franchising. Through its media awareness campaign highlighting the theme, Franchising: Building Local Businesses, One Opportunity at a Time, IFA promotes the economic impact of the more than 825,000 franchise establishments, which support nearly 18 million jobs and $2.1 trillion of economic output for the U.S. economy. IFA members include franchise companies in over 300 different business format categories, individual franchisees and companies that support the industry in marketing, law and business development.