Electronics & Electricals

The Federal Trade Commission has extended from 3 January to 2 February the deadline for interested parties to submit comments on the FTC’s Textile Rules. These rules require that textiles sold in the United States carry labels disclosing the generic names and percentages by weight of the fibres in the product, the manufacturer or marketer name or registered identification number, and the country where the product was processed or manufactured. The FTC’s Textile Rules implement the requirements of the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act.

The FTC last formally reviewed the Textile Rules in 1998 and is now inviting input from consumers, businesses, advocates, industry experts and others on whether it should:

• modify the provision addressing generic fibre names so that the reference to the international standard for manufactured fibres reflects the updated standard ISO 2076: 2010;
• clarify the provisions addressing textile products containing elastic material and trimmings (for example, Section 303.10 requires disclosure of elastic material fibre content but Section 303.12 states that trimmings, for which the disclosure requirements do not apply, may include elastic material added to a product in minor proportion for holding, reinforcing or similar structural purposes; in addition, the term “minor proportion” is not defined and Section 303.12 lists product components or parts that may qualify as trim without otherwise defining the term “trimmings”);
• address the use of multiple languages in making required disclosures (e.g., whether voluntary multilingual labelling practices cause consumer confusion and, if so, how to avoid such confusion while providing the benefits of disclosures in multiple languages);
• clarify disclosure requirements for print and online advertising (e.g., the fact that fibre content percentages do not have to be disclosed in advertising);
• clarify or reconsider the Rules’ list of products excluded from the TFPIA;
• add or clarify definitions of terms set forth in the Rules; and
• modify consumer and business education materials and continue printing paper copies of these materials.

The FTC also welcomes comments on the benefits and costs of the TFPIA’s requirement that businesses identify themselves on labels using either their names or identifiers issued by the FTC (specifically whether alternative identifiers should be allowed, such as numbers issued by other nations), the extent to which retailers obtain guarantees for textile products, and whether the extent or manner of textile importation indicates that the guarantee provisions of the Textile Rules and Act should be modified.

Separately, the FTC has issued technical corrections to a July 2010 rule amending the Appliance Labeling Rule to create new labelling requirements for general service light bulbs. Over the last two years the FTC has issued two separate amendments to its Appliance Labeling Rule concerning light bulbs and television labels. The television label amendments became effective on 10 May 2011 while the light bulb amendments entered into force on 1 January 2012. As a result, the FTC states, two amendatory instructions in the earlier light bulb notice are not consistent with the Appliance Labeling Rule’s current language as amended by the television notice. The FTC is therefore revising the Rule’s language to ensure its accuracy and to correct an inadvertent error in the definition of “incandescent lamp.” The FTC has also issued a separate notice removing two obsolete instructions from the July 2010 notice.