Law note · Maryland
Maryland Online Data Privacy Act (MODPA), Attorney General enforcement and cure period
A MODPA violation is an unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practice enforced under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act's (Title 13) machinery, except that MODPA expressly excludes section 13-408, the Consumer Protection Act's private-action-for-damages provision, from its enforcement scheme, so a MODPA violation is not independently privately actionable through that route.
Section 14-4713(b) preserves any other remedy provided by law as a savings clause, not a grant of a private cause of action. Before initiating an enforcement action for a violation occurring on or before April 1, 2027, the Division of Consumer Protection may, in its discretion, issue a notice of violation where it determines a cure is possible, giving the controller or processor at least 60 days to cure; there is no unconditional right to cure, and this mechanism itself sunsets.
What it asks of an app
- Expect MODPA violations to be enforced exclusively by the Maryland Attorney General's Division of Consumer Protection under Title 13's unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practice machinery, never by a private plaintiff. MODPA expressly excludes Title 13's private-action-for-damages provision, section 13-408, from its enforcement scheme.
- Do not rely on an unconditional right to cure. The Division may, at its discretion, issue a notice of violation and give at least 60 days to cure only where it determines a cure is possible, and this mechanism applies only to a violation occurring on or before April 1, 2027.
When LexLint raises it
Declared activities: crawls_web, trains_models, deploys_chatbot, automated_outreach
Primary source: official Maryland statute text, Commercial Law Article, Title 14 Subtitle 47, Maryland General Assembly statute lookup