Fair Packaging and Labeling Act
.svg) | |
| Long title | To regulate interstate and foreign commerce by preventing the use of unfair or deceptive methods of packaging or labeling of certain consumer commodities distributed in such commerce, and for other purposes. |
|---|---|
| Acronyms (colloquial) | FPLA |
| Enacted by | the 89th United States Congress |
| Effective | November 3, 1966 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 89-755 |
| Statutes at Large | 80 Stat. 1296 |
| Codification | |
| Acts amended | Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act |
| Titles amended | |
| U.S.C. sections created | 15 U.S.C. ch. 39 § 1451 et seq. |
| U.S.C. sections amended | 21 U.S.C. ch. 9 §§ 301, 321, 331-337 |
| Legislative history | |
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The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act is a U.S. 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 labeling starting January 1, 2010,[1] to amend the FPLA to allow manufacturers to use metric-only labeling.[2] An amendment to delay indefinitely metric-only labeling was adopted by the European Commission September 10, 2007, approved by the European Parliament November 29, 2007, and by the European Economic and Social Committee December 12, 2007.[3] The E.U. will review this policy again in 2018 and may then maintain the status quo or set a deadline for mandatory metric only.[4]
See also
References
- ^ "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). CONSLEG: 1980L0181 — 09/02/2000. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- ^ "Forum on Permissible Metric-Only Labeling". Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- ^ 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 2008-05-19.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|month=(help) - ^ Gentry, Elizabeth J. "Voluntary Metric Labeling" (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2011-10-01.
External links
- FPLA in full
- Federal Trade Commission page
- Proposal to Amend the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) for Permissible Metric-Only Labeling accessed December 17, 2008
- Standards Setting in the European Union NIST SP891 (1997 edition)
