FTC, USDA To Host Roundtable on Organic Claims

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) will co-host a roundtable in Washington, D.C. on October 20  help the agencies better understand how consumers perceive “organic” claims for non-agricultural products, such as personal care products.
 At the roundtable, invited panelists, including consumer advocates, industry representatives, and academics, will discuss the following topics:

• Consumers’ interpretations of “organic” claims for products and services that generally fall outside the scope of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s National Organic Program;

•   A recent FTC-USDA study on organic claims, including its methods, limitations and conclusions; and

•   Approaches to address potential deception, including consumer education. 
 
The roundtable is open to the public, and the FTC welcomes written comments, including further evidence of consumer perception.
Interested parties may file a comment electronically.

Paper comments may be mailed to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Suite CC-5610 (Annex B), Washington, DC 20580, or they may be delivered to: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex B), Washington, DC 20024.
Commenters should write “Green Guides – Organic Roundtable, Project No. P954501” on their submission. The public comment period will remain open until December 1, 2016.
Comments will be posted on the roundtable’s public webpage.

The roundtable is free and open to the public. The commission will publish a detailed agenda at a later date.