Hunton Retail Law Resource

Citing its potentially outdated 1997 Enforcement Policy Statement on US Origin Claims, the Federal Trade Commission has announced that it will hold a half-day workshop in its DC offices on Made in USA advertising on September 26, 2019. Among other things, the agency is seeking input on how consumers interpret Made in USA claims, what the costs and benefits are of the FTC’s “all or virtually all” standard for unqualified claims, whether its current requirement that 85 percent of costs must be attributable to the United States to make an unqualified claim and whether firms that advertise their products as “Made in USA” charge higher prices than their competitors whose products are not advertised in this way. The FTC also will explore how the agency should address deceptive US origin claims made to US consumers on third-party platforms by firms with no US presence. The FTC will accept comments on the topic through October 11, 2019.