Fair Packaging and Labeling Act

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The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act is a US law that applies to labels on many consumer products. It requires the label to state:

  • The identity of the product;
  • The name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; and
  • The net quantity of contents.

The contents statement must include both metric and U.S. customary units.

Passed under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, the law first took effect on July 1, 1967. The metric labeling requirement was added in 1992 and took effect on February 14, 1994. The law is codified as 15 U.S.C. § 1451–1461.

There has been an effort by industry threatened by a European Union directive that would force metric-only labelling only from January 1, 2010,[1] to amend the FPLA to allow manufacturers to use metric-only labeling.[2] Forced metric-only labelling would lead to substantial added cost due to the forced necessity of producing two distinct package types. A amendment to indefinately delay forced metric-only labelling was adopted by the European Commision 10 September 2007, approved by the European Parliament 29 November 2007, and by the EESC 12 December 2007.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 20 December 1979 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement and on the repeal of Directive 71/354/EEC (PDF). Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
  2. ^ Forum on Permissible Metric-Only Labeling. Retrieved on 2007-03-03.
  3. ^ European Union. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 80/181/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to units of measurement; COM (2007) 510 ; 2007/0187/COD. Prelex: Monitoring of the decision-making process between institutions. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.

[edit] External links