The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed requirements that would require manufacturers to qualify all “Made in the USA” claims on packing and marketing materials for their products.
According to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published in July in the Federal Register, a “Made in the USA” claim can only be used in cases where “the final assembly or processing of the product occurs in the United States, all significant processing of the product occurs in the United States, and all or virtually all ingredients or components of the product are made and sourced in the United States.” The requirement applies to comparable claims for products using words including “manufactured,” “built,” “produced,” “created” or “crafted.”
Producers who promote or offer for sale products as “Made in the USA” that do not meet all of these conditions can be found to have engaged in unfair or deceptive practices under FTC regulations, and therefore subject to civil penalties.
Read the complete text of the FTC’s NPRM as published in the Federal Register. Interested parties can also comment on the proposed USA labeling rule through a link available at this URL. The deadline for comments is September 14th.
