PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Secretary of Health and Human Services makes rules for products that are foods, drugs, devices, or cosmetics. The Federal Trade Commission makes rules for other consumer products. If a product’s type, form, or amount makes some labeling rules impractical or unnecessary to protect buyers, the Secretary or the Commission can exempt that product from those rules as they judge fair. They can also make other rules to stop deception or help people compare value. Those rules can set how package size is described, control labels that claim a lower or special retail price, require a common name and ingredient list for multi-ingredient products (except certain foods), and stop packages that are mostly empty for no good reason. A package is considered mostly empty when it is filled far less than its capacity for reasons other than protecting the contents or machine needs. If the Secretary of Commerce finds that too many different package sizes make price comparisons hard, he must ask makers, packers, and sellers to create a voluntary standard with fair industry and consumer input. If, one year after that request, no standard is published, or a published standard is ignored, the Secretary of Commerce must report to Congress what was done and recommend whether new laws are needed.

Title 15, §1454

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Promulgating authority

The authority to promulgate regulations under this chapter is vested in (A) the Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to hereinafter as the “Secretary”) with respect to any consumer commodity which is a food, drug, device, or cosmetic, as each such term is defined by section 321 of title 21; and (B) the Federal Trade Commission (referred to hereinafter as the “Commission”) with respect to any other consumer commodity.

(b)Exemption of commodities from regulations

If the promulgating authority specified in this section finds that, because of the nature, form, or quantity of a particular consumer commodity, or for other good and sufficient reasons, full compliance with all the requirements otherwise applicable under section 1453 of this title is impracticable or is not necessary for the adequate protection of consumers, the Secretary or the Commission (whichever the case may be) shall promulgate regulations exempting such commodity from those requirements to the extent and under such conditions as the promulgating authority determines to be consistent with section 1451 of this title.

(c)Scope of additional regulations

Whenever the promulgating authority determines that regulations containing prohibitions or requirements other than those prescribed by section 1453 of this title are necessary to prevent the deception of consumers or to facilitate value comparisons as to any consumer commodity, such authority shall promulgate with respect to that commodity regulations effective to—

(1)establish and define standards for characterization of the size of a package enclosing any consumer commodity, which may be used to supplement the label statement of net quantity of contents of packages containing such commodity, but this paragraph shall not be construed as authorizing any limitation on the size, shape, weight or mass, dimensions, or number of packages which may be used to enclose any commodity;

(2)regulate the placement upon any package containing any commodity, or upon any label affixed to such commodity, of any printed matter stating or representing by implication that such commodity is offered for retail sale at a price lower than the ordinary and customary retail sale price or that a retail sale price advantage is accorded to purchasers thereof by reason of the size of that package or the quantity of its contents;

(3)require that the label on each package of a consumer commodity (other than one which is a food within the meaning of section 321(f) of title 21) bear (A) the common or usual name of such consumer commodity, if any, and (B) in case such consumer commodity consists of two or more ingredients, the common or usual name of each such ingredient listed in order of decreasing predominance, but nothing in this paragraph shall be deemed to require that any trade secret be divulged; or

(4)prevent the nonfunctional-slack-fill of packages containing consumer commodities.

For purposes of paragraph (4) of this subsection, a package shall be deemed to be nonfunctionally slack-filled if it is filled to substantially less than its capacity for reasons other than (A) protection of the contents of such package or (B) the requirements of machines used for enclosing the contents in such package.

(d)Development by manufacturers, packers, and distributors of voluntary product standards

Whenever the Secretary of Commerce determines that there is undue proliferation of the weights or masses, measures, or quantities in which any consumer commodity or reasonably comparable consumer commodities are being distributed in packages for sale at retail and such undue proliferation impairs the reasonable ability of consumers to make value comparisons with respect to such consumer commodity or commodities, he shall request manufacturers, packers, and distributors of the commodity or commodities to participate in the development of a voluntary product standard for such commodity or commodities under the procedures for the development of voluntary products standards established by the Secretary pursuant to section 272 of this title. Such procedures shall provide adequate manufacturer, packer, distributor, and consumer representation.

(e)Report and recommendations to Congress upon industry failure to develop or abide by voluntary product standards

If (1) after one year after the date on which the Secretary of Commerce first makes the request of manufacturers, packers, and distributors to participate in the development of a voluntary product standard as provided in subsection (d) of this section, he determines that such a standard will not be published pursuant to the provisions of such subsection (d), or (2) if such a standard is published and the Secretary of Commerce determines that it has not been observed, he shall promptly report such determination to the Congress with a statement of the efforts that have been made under the voluntary standards program and his recommendation as to whether Congress should enact legislation providing regulatory authority to deal with the situation in question.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1992—Pub. L. 102–245, § 107(a)(1), (2), (b), which directed amendment of section, effective two years after Feb. 14, 1992, by substituting “weight or mass” for “weight” in subsec. (c)(1) and “weights or masses” for “weights” in subsec. (d), was repealed by Pub. L. 102–329, § 3. Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 102–329, § 1(1), substituted “weight or mass” for “weight”. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 102–329, § 1(2), substituted “weights or masses” for “weights”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

“Secretary of Health and Human Services” substituted for “Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare” in subsec. (a) pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96–88, which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.

Effective Date

of 1992 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 102–329 effective Feb. 14, 1994, but with such amendment to have no effect on the sale or distribution of products whose labels have been printed before such date, no application to unit pricing, advertising, recipe programs, nutrition labeling, or other general pricing information, and no

Construction

requiring changes in package size or affecting in any way the size of packages, see section 2 of Pub. L. 102–329, set out as a note under section 1453 of this title.

§1454 Rules and Regulations