Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 111/2/20, EIC 111/4

22 July 2011

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 432/2011

US : Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a notice in the Federal Register (FR) on 13 July 2011 to solicit public comments on whether it should modify its Rule on Care Labeling of Textile Wearing Apparel and Certain Piece Goods as Amended (the Rule) to (i) permit the use of care symbols; (ii) address the disclosure of care instructions in languages other than English; and (iii) address the practice of professional wetcleaning. It also set forth 15 specific questions to solicit comments on the overall costs, benefits, necessity, and regulatory and economic impact of the Rule. Interested parties may submit their comments to the FTC on or before 6 September 2011. For details, please refer to the FR notice which is available at
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-07-13/pdf/2011-17512.pdf.

DETAILS

2. The FTC promulgated the Rule in 1971, and has amended it three times since. The Rule makes it an unfair or deceptive act or practice for manufacturers and importers of textile wearing apparel and certain piece goods to sell these items without attaching care labels stating "what regular care is needed for the ordinary use of the product".

3.Currently, the Rule allows the use of approved care symbols in lieu of words to disclose care instructions. It provides that the symbol system developed by ASTM International, formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials, and designated as ASTM Standard D5489-96c "Guide to Care Symbols for Care Instructions on Consumer Textile Products" may be used on care labels or care instructions in lieu of terms so long as the symbols fulfill the requirements of the Rule. ASTM Standard D5489-96c was subsequently updated as ASTM D5489-07 "Standard Guide for Care Symbols for Care Instructions on Textile Products".

4. In view that some labels use symbols other than those allowed by the Rule, or provide care instructions in languages other than English, the FTC invites comments on whether the Rule should be updated to reference the latest ASTM standard and allow disclosure in other languages.

5. In the past, the FTC did not establish a definition for "professional wetcleaning" or permit manufacturers to label a garment that one can professionally wetclean with a "Professionally Wetclean' instruction. Since the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has now developed standards relating to wetcleaning, the FTC is seeking comments as to whether the Rule should be amended to address the practice of professional wetcleaning.

6. For the latest information regarding the Rule, traders are advised to visit the FTC's website at
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus50-clothes-captioning-complying-care-labeling-
rule.

ENQUIRIES

7. For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact Miss S Y TANG at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Bonny CHAO)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry