The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering changes to its labelling and packaging provisions as per the Fair
Packaging and Labelling Act (FPLA), comprising deletion of specific requirements for commodities advertised using terms such as “introductory offer,” “cents off,” and “economy size.” The intended changes would also reform place-of-business requirements, allowing businesses to omit addresses if their street addresses is available online or in any other “readily accessible, widely published, and publicly available resource.”
The labelling requirements under FPLA are intended to provide consumers with accurate information about the products they are about to buy for value comparison. This could include name and address of manufacturer, and net contents in terms of units, weight or volume; and to stop indistinct or deceptive packaging and labelling of consumer commodities.
The planned modification that signifies the most probable impact for consumer products is:
- Reference to State laws: alerting businesses that state laws may apply to products exempt from FPLA requirements.
Further planned modifications are as follows:
- Place of business listing: permit a business to omit the street address if it is listed in any readily accessible, well-known, widely published, and publicly available resource, including but not limited to a printed directory, electronic database, or Web site.
- Metric conversion chart: delete the current incomplete chart and incorporate by reference the complete one published in National Institute of Standards and Technology Handbook 130, Uniform Laws and Regulations in the areas of legal metrology and engine fuel quality (2015 ed., p. 95) 2.
- Abbreviations in the required net quantity declaration: clarify to expressly permit exponents with customary inch/pound measurements.
- Certain retail price sales representations: remove outdated sections addressing when and how a packager or labeller represents a commodity to be “cents off,” an “introductory offer,” or “economy size.”
For more Expert Insights on New Regulations and Developments in the Fair Packaging and Labelling Act, join expert speaker, Kristi A. Davidson, in a Live Webinar on Friday, April 1, 2016. Kristi will take you through all the package and labeling requirements of the FPLA and examine the new rules of FTC. She will also help you understand how other Federal and State laws complement and work in conjunction with the FPLA, including: the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; the Consumer Product Safety Act; the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act; the Federal Trade Commission Act; the California Safe Cosmetics Act; the California Safer Consumer Product Regulation; California’s Proposition 65; various state consumer protection statutes; and various state packaging and labeling laws.
