Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 616 § 616.325 — Consumer commodity labeling requirements; restrictions on consumer commodity

Consumer commodity labeling requirements; restrictions on consumer commodity distribution; rulemaking; conformance to federal standards. (1) All labels of consumer commodities shall conform to such requirements for the declaration of net quantity of contents as the State Department of Agriculture by rule may prescribe. In carrying out the provisions of this subsection, the department shall consider the requirements and exemptions provided in the federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, 15 U.S.C. 1451, et seq., as amended, and the rules promulgated pursuant thereto. (2) The label of any package of a consumer commodity which bears a representation as to the number of servings of such commodity contained in such package shall bear a statement of the net quantity, in terms of weight, measure or numerical count, of each such serving. (3) No person shall distribute or cause to be distributed in commerce any packaged consumer commodity if any qualifying words or phrases appear in conjunction with the separate statement of the net quantity of contents required by subsection (1) of this section, but nothing in this subsection prohibits supplemental statements, at other places on the package, describing in nondeceptive terms the net quantity of contents. Such supplemental statements of net quantity of contents shall not include any term qualifying a unit of weight, measure or count that tends to exaggerate the amount of the commodity contained in the package. (4) Whenever the department determines that rules containing prohibitions or requirements other than those prescribed by subsection (1) of this section are necessary to prevent the deception of consumers or to facilitate value comparisons as to any consumer commodity, the department shall promulgate rules with respect to that commodity which: (a) Establish and define standards for the characterization of the size of a package enclosing any consumer commodity, which may be used to supplement the label statement of net quantity of contents of packages containing such commodity. This paragraph shall not be construed as authorizing any limitation on the size, shape, weight, dimensions or number of packages which may be used to enclose any commodity; (b) Regulate the placement upon any package containing any consumer commodity or upon any label affixed to such commodity, of any printed matter stating or representing by implication that such commodity is offered for retail sale at a price lower than the ordinary and customary retail sale or that a retail sale price advantage is accorded to purchasers thereof by reason of the size of that package or the quantity of its contents; (c) Require that the label on each package of a consumer commodity bear the common or usual name of such consumer commodity, if any, and in case such consumer commodity consists of two or more ingredients, the common or usual name of each such ingredient listed in order of decreasing predominance. However, nothing in this paragraph requires that any trade secret be divulged; or (d) Prevent the nonfunctional slack-fill of packages containing consumer commodities. (5) For the purposes of subsection (4)(d) of this section, a package is nonfunctionally slack-filled if it is filled to substantially less than its capacity for reasons other than protection of the contents of such package or the requirements of machines used for enclosing the contents in such package. The department may adopt any rules promulgated by the federal government pursuant to the federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, 15 U.S.C. 1451, et seq. [1973 c.227 §24; 1975 c.304 §15]