FTC Extends Deadline for Comments on Proposed Changes to Wool Products Labeling Rules

In response to requests from stakeholders, the Federal Trade Commission has extended the deadline for the public to submit comments on proposed changes to its Wool Products Labeling Rules as part of its systematic review of all current FTC rules and guides.  The deadline to submit comments will be extended from November 25, 2013 to December 3, 2013.

The Wool Products Labeling Rules require that labels on wool products disclose the manufacturer’s or marketer’s name, the country where the product was processed or manufactured, and information about the fiber content.

In response to public comments the FTC received last year, the agency is proposing changes designed to clarify and update the rules, to make them more flexible, and to align them with the Commission’s proposed amendments to the Textile Rules.  The proposed changes include incorporating the Wool Act’s new definitions for cashmere and very fine wools, clarifying descriptions of products containing virgin or new wool, and revising the Rules to allow certain hang-tags disclosing fiber trademarks and performance even if they do not disclose the product’s full fiber content.

The FTC first issued the Rules under the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939, known as the Wool Act.  The agency completed its last review of the Rules in 1998 and modified the Rules in 1998 and 2000.  In 2006, Congress amended the Wool Act with the Wool Suit Fabric Labeling Fairness and International Standards Conforming Act, which provides that wool products identified as cashmere, or as containing very fine wools, are misbranded unless they have no more than the average fiber diameter specified in the Act

The Commission vote to extend the deadline for filing comments was 4-0.  Instructions for filing comments appear in the Federal Register Notice.  All comments received will be posted on the FTC’s website.  (FTC File No. P124201; the staff contact is Robert M. Frisby, Bureau of Consumer Protection, 202-326-2098)

For more information, read Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements Under the Textile and Wool Acts and Cachet of Cashmere: Complying with the Wool Products Labeling Act.

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