The Association of National Advertisers is seeking a federal law to preempt state attempts to impose rules on the collection of consumer data by advertisers, saying state laws would create "costly compliance challenges and confusion for consumers," the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

At issue is a California law set to take effect in 2020 which would give consumers more control over how their personal data is collected and used online. The law is similar to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation that took effect earlier this year.

Congress is likely to take up the issue of online privacy in the coming year after a series of high-profile data breaches and growing public concern about how online platforms such as Facebook use the data they collect. Advertisers use personal data to tailor ads to consumers.

ANA wants the Federal Trade Commission to advocate for a single national standard enforced by the agency, the newspaper reported. The standard would include language preventing the use of data to discriminate against someone based on their employment, credit eligibility, religion and sexual orientation, among other factors.

"The biggest problem is that (state) laws are not identical," Dan Jaffe, executive vice president for government relations at ANA, told the Journal. "That creates a very substantial number of problems for advertisers to effectively gather the data they need and reach consumers." https://on.wsj.com/2QFLJf4

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