Federal Trade Commission to review need for federal guidance on 'green' advertising claims

Nonwovens Industry, August, 1991 by Peter Mayberry

Federal Trade Commission To Review Need For Federal Guidance On |Green' Advertising Claims

INDA testifies on behalf of nonwovens industry at recent FTC hearing; urges commission to establish guidelines for |green' advertising In a move anticipated for some time, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced that it will review the need for federal "guidance" regarding environmental advertising claims being made by certain manufacturers. As part of this review, the FTC held hearings on July 17, 18 in Washington, D.C.

To represent the nonwovens industry's position on the issue, INDA testified before the FTC on July 18. Its testimony is based on the comments and opinions of INDA members expressed during a July 1 emergency meeting convened in Washington, D.C. to develop a formal position on the matter.

Attending the July 1 meeting were representatives from Clopay, Courtaulds Fibers, Dexter Nonwovens, Fiberweb North America, Kimberly-Clark and Veratec. As a large consumer of nonwoven fabrics used in the production of disposable diapers and other consumer goods, a representative of Procter & Gamble also attended the emergency meeting and contributed to INDA's testimony.

This article summarizes the FTC action and includes the testimony INDA presented on July 18.

Gauging A Need For Federal "Guidance"

The FTC has primary jurisdiction over consumer marketing issues. One of its principle functions is to safeguard the public from false or deceptive advertising of consumer products. To accomplish this, the FTC has a number of general rules regarding what can and cannot be claimed by manufacturers advertising their products.

During the 1980s the FTC was not noted for vigorous enforcement of these rules and, lacking federal leadership, several state and local governments enacted their own laws regarding "green" advertising claims that apply to products sold within their separate jurisdictions. In addition to those states and local governments, a number of others are currently considering similar measures.

This has resulted in a multiplicity of regulations that poses a significant burden on manufacturers that will only increase as more and more state and local governments take action.

Without federal guidelines, INDA is concerned that dozens of states and local governments could eventually adopt separate regulations. Facing a multitude of potentially conflicting regulations, INDA is concerned that manufacturers will decide not to advertise environmental attributes at all.

This concern is shared by members of Congress, representatives from state governments that are considering legislation and numerous manufacturers who sell products around the country. All of these groups and others have requested that the FTC establish guidelines so that a more "national" approach can be taken on the issue.

The FTC has responded to these requests by formally agreeing to review the need for Federal guidance and by holding public hearings to increase awareness of the issue. Material presented during these hearings will likely become the basis of the federal government's action on the matter for the foreseeable future.

Proposed Guidelines

If the FTC decides that additional federal action is needed, one of its most attractive options would be the establishment of interpretive guidelines that manufacturers could follow if they wish to make environmental claims. Other options available to the FTC include the development of additional new rules that specify exactly what language constitutes deceptive environmental advertising (and therefore cannot be used) or increased enforcement of rules already on the books. For various reasons, neither of these two options is as attractive to the FTC and to industry as the development of guidelines.

Guidelines are most attractive because they would be voluntary and could be easily revised to address technological advances or other future needs. Also, while guidelines will not preempt state or local laws, they would serve as a model for state legislatures considering action.

Since guidelines are such an attractive option, several groups have already submitted proposed ideas for FTC consideration. In fact, two of these proposals are actively being reviewed by the FTC and could provide the basis of its action on the issue.

One of these proposals was contained in the recently-released "Green Report II: Recommendations for Responsible Environmental Advertising," produced by a task force of Attorneys General from 11 states. While this proposal has some good suggestions, INDA will not endorse it due to two specific areas of concern: recommendations that deal with composting claims and recommendations regarding general claims that can be made by manufacturers of single-use products.

With composting, recommendations contained in the Green Report II would forbid "compostability" claims for any product sold nationally unless a significant amount of that product is being composted everywhere the product is sold. In addition, the report recommends that even those disposable diapers that could be labeled "compostable" should explicitly state that the diapers should not be composted in most commercial composting operations due to "health and sanitation problems." INDA believes that these recommendations will discourage additional development of composting programs since consumers will not be aware that disposable diapers could be composted if the necessary facilities existed in their area.