SB 633, as amended, Hill. Consumer protection: “Made in U.S.A.” label.
Existing law prohibits the sale or offering of sale in the state of any merchandise on which merchandise or on its container appears the words, “Made in U.S.A.,” “Made in America,” “U.S.A.,” or similar words when the merchandise or any article, unit, or part thereof, has been entirely or substantially made, manufactured, or produced outside of the United States.
Thisbegin delete bill, instead,end deletebegin insert billend insert wouldbegin delete make it unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association to sell, or offer for sale, merchandise that advertises itself as being made or manufactured in the United States unless the merchandise has been all or virtually all made in the United States, and provides that “all or virtually all” has the same meaning as in a specified policy statement of the Federal Trade Commissionend deletebegin insert
exempt from the prohibition merchandise made, manufactured, or produced in the United States if either the merchandise has an article, unit, or part that does not constitute more than 5% of the final product or the manufacturer makes a specified showing and the article, unit, or part does not constitute more than 10% of the final product. The bill would also exempt merchandise sold for resale to consumers outside of the stateend insert.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 17533.7 of the Business and Professions
2Code is amended to read:
(a) It is unlawful for any person, firm, corporation
4or association to sell or offer for sale in this state any merchandise
5on which merchandise or on its container there appears the words
6“Made in U.S.A.,” “Made in America,” “U.S.A.,” or similar words
7begin delete unless the merchandise has been all or virtually all made inend deletebegin insert if the
8merchandise or any article, unit, or part thereof, has been entirely
9or substantially made, manufactured, or produced outside ofend insert the
10United States.
11(b) For purposes of subdivision (a), merchandise that is “all or
12virtually all” made in the United States has the same meaning as
13in the Enforcement Policy Statement on U.S. Origin Claims issued
14by the Federal Trade Commission (62 Fed. Reg. 63756 (Dec. 2,
151997)).
16(b) This section shall not apply to merchandise made,
17manufactured, or produced in the United States that has an article,
18unit, or part from outside of the United States, if the article, unit,
19or part of the merchandise obtained from outside the United States
20constitutes not more than 5 percent of the final manufactured
21product.
22(c) (1) This section shall not apply to merchandise made,
23manufactured, or produced in the United States that has an article,
24unit, or part from outside of the United States, if both of the
25following apply:
26(A) The manufacturer of the merchandise shows that it can
27neither produce the article, unit, or part within the United States
28nor obtain the article, unit, or part of the merchandise from a
29domestic source.
30(B) The article, unit, or part of the merchandise obtained from
31outside the United States constitutes not more than 10 percent of
32the final manufactured product.
P3 1(2) The determination that the article, unit, or part of the
2merchandise cannot be made, manufactured, produced, or obtained
3within the United States from a domestic source shall not be based
4on the cost of the article, unit, or part.
5(d) This section shall not apply to merchandise sold for resale
6to consumers outside of California.
7(e) For purposes of this section, goods sold or offered for sale
8outside of California shall not be deemed mislabeled if the label
9conforms to the law of the forum state or country within which
10they are sold or offered for sale.
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