Rabbit Industry

16 CFR Part 103 · Trade practice rules · in the Code of Federal Regulations 1959-1978 (14 annual editions)

Scanned CFR pages, OCR text may contain errors; the linked Library of Congress PDF is the authority. Not legal advice; not affiliated with the FTC. These rules and guides are historical: most were rescinded or replaced, so do not assume any is in force.

Latest edition: Library of Congress, 1978 CFR · Earliest edition: 1959 CFR

Text (1978 edition, OCR)

§ 103.0

with a memorandum of sale identifying the
buyers. There is no violation of paragraph
(a) of this section in this example. In such a
situation wherein the names of the buyers
are not initially disclosed by the broker to
his seller-principal it is the broker’s respon-
sibility to provide confirmation and memo-
randa as will clearly establish his role as a
broker, and it is the seller’s responsibility to
ascertain that the broker is not the buyer.

Example No. 2. An industry member who
is regularly engaged as a packer and shipper
of fresh fruits and vegetables has an inad-
equate supply of a particular commodity to
meet his needs at a particular time. He pur-
chases the necessary quantity to meet such
needs from another regularly engaged
packer-shipper operating at the same level
of distribution. By prearrangement, the pur-
chaser is allowed an inter-packing house dis-
count. Such practice does not violate para-
graph (a) of this section.

Example No. 3. An industry member sells
industry products through his broker to
some purchasers and direct, without the ser-
vices of his broker, to other purchasers. In
doing so he charges lower prices to some
customers because in making sales to them
he incurs less selling and delivery expense
other than savings in brokerage fees and
commissions than he incurs in selling or de-
livering products to the other customers.

Note: A price differential which is not vio-
lative of paragraph (a) of thls section may
nevertheless be violative of § 74.1.

[Rule 2]
PART 103—RABBIT INDUSTRY

Sec.

103.0 The industry and its products de-
fined.

103.1 Misrepresentation of products.

103.2 Misrepresentation concerning prolifi-
cacy, growth, disease-resistance, develop-
ment of superior meat, fur, or hair, etc.

103.3. Misrepresenting industry products as
meeting requirements of a standard or
specification.

103.4 Misrepresentation as to character of
business. .

103.5 Misrepresentation concerning pur-
chase of offspring of rabbits or cavies,
etc.

103.6 Bait advertising.

103.7 Defamation of competitors or false
disparagement of their products.

103.8 Prohibited discrimination.

103.9 Aiding or abetting use of unfair trade
practices.

AvutnHonriry: Secs. 6(g), 5, 38 Stat. 722, 719;
15 U.S.C. 46, 45, unless otherwise noted.

Source: 23 FR 4737, June 27, 1958, unless
otherwise noted.

Title 16—Commerciol Practices

$103.0 The industry and its products de-
fined.

(a) Products of the industry covered
by the rules in this part include all
types, breeds, varieties, or strains of
live domestic rabbits or cavies.

(b) Members of the industry are per-
sons, firms, corporations, and organi-
zations engaged in the sale, offering
for sale, or distribution of any such
products.

§ 103.1 Misrepresentation of products.

In the sale, offering for sale, or dis-
tribution of industry products, it is an
unfair trade practice for any member
of the industry to make or publish, or
cause to be inade or published, any
statement or representation (whether
in the form of advertisement, trade
promotional literature, mark, stamp,
brand, label, depiction, photograph, il-
lustration, radio or television broad-
cast, or otherwise) which, directly or
by implication, has the capacity and
tendency or effect of deceiving pur-
chasers or prospective purchasers con-
cerning:

(a) The grade, quality, quantity, age,
price, value, pedigree, registration,
origin, weight, health, strength,
growth, livability, size, productivity,
breeding, raising, or desirability, of
any industry product; or

(ob) The hair of any industry prod-
uct, the growth, use, grade, or value
thereof, or the market for such hair;
or
(c) The delivery or purported deliv-
ery dates or other terms or conditions
of delivery or sale of any industry
product; or

(d) The experience needed, or pur-
ported gross sales, income, profits, or
opportunities, in connection with the
breeding, raising, or marketing of any
industry product; or

(e) Any other material matter relat-
ing to the breeding, raising, or market-
ing of such product.

§ 103.2 Misrepresentation concerning pro-
lificacy, growth, disease-resistance, de-
velopment of superior meat, fur, or
hair, etc.

It is an unfair trade practice for any
industry member to represent, directly
or by implication, through advertising -
or otherwise, that any rabbits or

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Chapter I—Federal Trade Commission

cavies, or breeds, or varieties, or
strains thereof, are more prolific or
grow faster, are more disease-resistant,
or develop, a higher quality of meat,
fur, or hair, than is in fact the case.

§ 103.3 Misrepresenting industry products
as meeting requirements of a standard
or specification.

In the sale, offering for sale, or dis-
tribution of industry products, it is an
unfair trade practice, directly or indi-
rectly, to represent:

(a) That an industry product meets
the requireinents of a standard or
specification, or any quality rating or
designation provided for by a standard
or specification, when such is not the
fact; or

(b) That an industry product meets
the requirements of a standard or
specification, or any quality rating or
designation provided for by a standard
or specification, without a clear and
adequate identification of such stan-
dard or specification and disclosure as
to whether same is an official, indus-
try, or private standard or specifica-
tion, nade in immediate conjunction
with the representation; or

(c) That an industry product meets
the requirements of a standard or
specification which is not applicable to
industry products, or which has been
rescinded or superseded and no clear
and adequate disclosure of such fact is
made in immediate conjunction with
the representation; or to make refer-
ence to any standard or specification,
or any quality rating, grade, or desig-
nation provided for by any standard or
specification, in such a manner, or
under such circumstances as to mis-
lead purchasers or prospective pur-
chasers as to the kind, grade, or qual-
ity of any product of the industry.

§ 103.4 Misrepresentation as to character
of business.

It is an unfair trade practice for any
industry member to represent, directly
or by implication, in his advertising or
otherwise, that he is a raiser or breed-
er of industry products or that he had
actually raised or bred particular in-
dustry products, when such is not the
fact, or in any other manner to mis-
represent the character, extent, or
type of his business.

§ 103.7

$103.5 Misrepresentation concerning pur-
cbase of offspring of rabbits or cavies,
ete.

It is an unfair trade practice for any
industry member to represent, directly
or by implication, through advertising
or otherwise, that (a) he will buy back
the offspring of the rabbits or cavies
sold by him, when such is not the fact,
or (b) that he will buy back such
offspring at any price or prices in
excess of those he actually will pay for
the rabbit or cavy young of stock pur-
chased from him.

§ 103.6 Bait advertising.

It is an unfair trade practice for an
industry member to offer for sale any
industry product when the offer is not
a bona fide effort to sell the product
so offered.

Nore: In determining whether there has
been a violation of this section, consider-
ation will be given to acts or practices indi-
cating that the offer was not made in good
faith for the purpose of selling the adver-
tised product, but was made for the purpose
of contacting prospective purchasers and
selling them a product or products other
than the product offered. Among acts or
practices which will be considered in making
that determination are the following:

(a) The creation, through the initial offer
or advertisement, of a false impression of
the grade, quality, value, size, or origin of
the product offered, or in other material re-
spect.

(b) The disparagement, by acts or words,
of the product offered.

(c) The refusal, in the event of sale of the
product offered, to deliver such product to
the buyer within a reasonable time there-
after.

(d) The failure to have available a quanti-
ty of the advertised product sufficient to
meet reasonably anticipated demands.

It is not necessary that each act or prac-
tice set forth above be present in order to
establish that a particular offer is violative
of this section.

8103.7 Defamation of competitors or false
disparagement of tbeir products.

It is an unfair trade practice:

(a) To defame competitors by falsely
imputing to them dishonorable con-
duct, inability to perform contracts,
questionable credit standing, or by
other false representations; or

(b) To falsely disparage a competi-
tor’s products, business methods, sell-

411


§ 103.8

ing prices, values, credit terms, poli-
cies, or services.

§ 103.8 Prohibited discrimination. '

(a) Prohibited discriminatory prices,
rebates, refunds, discounts, credits,
etc., which effect unlawful price dis-
crimination. It is an unfair trade prac-
tice for any industry member engaged
in commerce, in the course of such
commerce, to grant or allow, secretly
or openly, directly or indirectly, any
rebate, refund, discount, credit, or
other form of price differential, where
such rebate, refund, discount, credit,
or other form of price differential, ef-
fects a discrimination in price between
different purchasers of goods of like
grade and quality, where either or any
of the purchases involved therein are
in commerce, and where the effect
thereof may be substantially to lessen
competition or tend to create a mo-
nopoly in any line of commerce, or to
injure, destroy, or prevent competition
with any person who either grants or
knowingly receives the benefit of such
discrimination, or with customers of
either of thei: Provided, however:

(1) That the goods involved in any
such transaction are sold for use, con-
sumption, or resale within any place
under the jurisdiction of the United
States, and are not purchased by
schools, colleges, universities, public li-
braries, churches, hospitals, and chari-
table institutions not operated for
profit, as supplies for their own use,

(2) That nothing contained in this
paragraph shall prevent differentials
which make only due allowance for
differences in the cost of manufacture,
sale, or delivery resulting from the dif-
fering methods or quantities in which
such commodities are to such purchas-
ers sold or delivered;

1As used in this section, the word “com-
merce” means ‘‘trade or commerce among
the several States and with foreign nations
or between the District of Columbia or any
Territory of the United States and any
State, Territory, or foreign nation, or be-
tween any insular possessions or other
places under the jurisdiction of the United
States, or between any such possession or
place and any State or Territory of the
United States or the District of Columbia or
any foreign nation, or within the District of
Columbia or any Territory or any insular
possession or other place under the jurisdic-
tion of the United States.”

Title 16—Commerciol Practices

Note: Cost justification under paragraph
(a)(2) of this section depends upon net sav-
ings in cost based on all facts relevant to the
transactions under the terms of this proviso.
For example, if a seller regularly grants a
discount based upon the purchase of a speci-
fied quantity by a single order for a singie
delivery, and this discount is justified by
cost differences, it does not foilow that the
same discount can be cost justified if grant-
ed to a purchaser of the same quantity by
multiple orders or for multiple deliveries.

(3) That nothing contained in this
section shall prevent persons engaged
in selling goods, wares, or merchandise
in commerce from selecting their own
customers in bona fide transactions
and not in restraint of trade;

(4) That nothing contained in this
paragraph shall prevent price changes
from time to time where made in re-
sponse to changing conditions affect-
ing the market for or the marketabil-
ity of the goods concerned, such as but
not limited to distress sales under
court process, or sales in good faith in
discontinuance of business in the
goods concerned.

(5) That nothing contained in this
section shall prevent the meeting in
good faith of an equally low price of
competitor.

Norte: See subsection (b) of section 2 of
the Clayton Act as amended, which is set
forth in the note following paragraph (e) of
this section.

(b) Prohibited brokerage and com-
missions. It is an unfair trade practice
for any member of the industry en-
gaged in commerce, in the course of
such commerce, to pay or grant, or to
receive or accept anything of value as
a commission, brokerage, or other
compensation, or any allowance or dis-
count in lieu thereof, except for ser-
vices rendered in connection with the
sale or purchase of goods, wares, or
merchandise, either to the other party
to such transaction or to an agent,
representative, or other intermediary
therein where such intermediary is
acting in fact for or in behalf, or is
subject to the direct or indirect con-
trol, of any party to such transaction
other than the person by whom such
compensation is.so granted or paid.

(ec) Prohibited advertising or promo-
tional allowances, etc. It is an unfair
trade practice for any member of the
industry engaged in commerce to pay

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Chapter I—Federal Trade Commissian

or contract for the payment of adver-
tising or promotional allowances or
any other thing of value to or for the
benefit of a customer of such member
in the course of such commerce as
compensation or in consideration for
any services or facilities furnished by
or through such customer in connec-
tion with the processing, handling,
sale, or offering for sale of any prod-
ucts or commodities manufactured,
sold, or offered for sale by such
member, unless such payment or con-
sideration is available on proportional-
ly equal terms to all other customers
competing in the distribution of such
products or commodlties.

(d) Prohibited discriminatory ser-
vices or facilities. It is an unfair trade
practice for any member of the indus-
try engaged in commerce to discrimi-
nate in favor of one purchaser against
another purchaser or purchasers of a
commodity bought for resale, with or
without processing, by contracting to
furnish or furnishing, or by contribut-
ing to the furnishing of, any services
or facilities connected with the pro-
cessing, handling, sale, or offering for
sale of such commodity so purchased
upon terms not accorded to all com-
peting purchasers on proportionally
equal terms.

Norte: See subsection (b) of section 2 of
the Clayton Act as amended, which is set
forth in the note following paragraph (e) of
this section.

(e) Inducing or receiving an illegal
discrimination in price. It is an unfair
trade practice for any member of the
industry engaged in commerce, in the
course of such commerce, knowingly
to induce or receive a discrimination in
price which is prohibited by the fore-
going provisions of this section. °

Note: This paragraph is a restatement of
section 2(f) of the Clayton Act as amended.
In a complaint proceeding under this sec-
tion, in order to make out a prima facie vio-
lation, the Commission must show that the
favored buyer induced or received the lower
price knowing, or knowing facts from which
he should have known, that such price was
violative of section 2(a) of said act and not
justified under paragraphs (a)(2), (4), or (5)
of this section. When, in any such proceed-
ing, the issue is limited to the question of

§ 103.9

whether the price differential involved
made only due allowance for differences in
cost of manufacturing, sale, or delivery re-
sulting from the differing methods or quan-
tities in which the goods were sold and de-
livered, the Commission may establish a
prima facie case in a number of ways, in-
cluding:

(1) By showing that the buyer paying the
lower price knew that the methods by, and
quantities in, which the goods were sold and
delivered to him by the seller were the same
as in the case of the competing buyer or
buyers paying the higher price or prices; or

(2) By showing, when there is a difference
in the methods or quantities in which the
goods were sold and delivered by the seller
to the buyer than in the case of the compet-
ing buyer or buyers paying the higher price
or prices, that the buyer paying the lower
price or prices knew the nature and extent
of such differences and knew or should have
known that they could not have resulted in
sufficient cost savings of the kind and char-
acter specified as to justify the price differ-
ential.

Norte: This section is based on the provi-
sions of section 2 of the Clayton Act as
amended by the Robinson-Patman Act.

Subsection (b) of section 2 of the Clayton
Act, as amended, to which reference is made
in the note to paragraph (a5) of this sec-
tion and in the note to paragraph (d) of this
section reads as follows:

“Upon proof being made, at any hearing
on a complaint under this section, that
there has been discrimination in price or
services or facilities furnished, the burden
of rebutting the prima facie case thus made
by showing justification shall be upon the
person charged with a violation of this sec- -
tion, and unless justification shall be affir-
matively shown, the Commission is autho-
rized to issue an order terminating the dis-
crimination: Provided, however, That noth-
ing herein contained shall prevent a seller
rebutting the prima facie case thus made by
showing that his lower price or the furnish-
ing of services or facilities to any purchaser
or purchasers was made in good faith to
meet an equally low price of a competitor,
or the services or facilities furnished by a
competitor.”

§ 103.9 Aiding or abetting use of unfair
trade practices.

It is an unfair trade practice for any
person, firm, or corporation to aid,
abet, coerce, or induce another, direct-
ly or indirectly, to use or promote the
use of any unfair trade practice speci-
fied in this part.

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