Catalog Jewelry And Giftware Industry

16 CFR Part 157 · Trade practice rules · in the Code of Federal Regulations 1943-1978 (15 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 These rules and guides are historical: most were rescinded or replaced, so do not assume any is in force.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: 1943 CFR

Decisions that mention this industry's rules (17)

Text (1978 edition, OCR)

§ 154.24

(f) Inducing or receiving an illegal
discrimination in price, advertising or
promotional allowances, or services or
facilities: It is an unfair trade practice
for any member of the industry en-
gaged in commerce, in the course of
such commerce, knowingiy to induce
or receive a discrimination in price, ad-
vertising or promotionai allowances, or
services or facilities, prohibited by the
foregoing provisions of this section.
[Rule 23]

§ 154.24 Discriminatory returns.

It is an unfair trade practice for any
member of the industry to discrimi-
nate in favor of one customer-purchas-
er against another customer-purchaser
of industry products, bought from
such member of the industry for
resale, by contracting to furnish, or
furnishing in connection therewith,
upon terms not accorded to all custom-
er-purchasers on proportionally equal
terms, the service or facility whereby
such favored customer is accorded the
privilege of returning industry prod-
ucts so purchased and receiving there-
for credit or refund of purchase price:
Provided, however, That nothing in
this part shall prohibit or be used to
prevent the return of merchandise by
purchaser for credit or refund of pur-
chase price: Provided, however, That
merchandise has not been properly la-
beled by the seller in accordance with
this part or has been otherwise falsely
or deceptively labeled or represented,
or when and because such merchan-
dise is defective in material, workman-
ship, or in any other respect is con-
trary to warranty or purchase con-
tract: And provided, further, That
nothing herein shall prohibit a pur-
chaser from exchanging the current
season’s merchandise for different
sizes of the same style number in
order to balance purchaser’s stock.
(Nothing in this section is intended to
modify or affect any of the require-
ments of § 154.23 of this part entitled
opp nibited Discrimination.”) (Rule
24)

§ 154.25 Consignment distribution.

(a) It is an unfair trade practice for
any member of the industry to employ
the practice of shipping industry prod-
ucts on consignment without the ex-

28

Title 16—Commercial Practices

press request or prior consent of the
purchasers,

(b) Nothing in this section shall be
construed to authorize any under-
standing or agreement, combination or
conspiracy, or planned common course
of action, by and between industry
members, mutually to conform or re-
strict their practice of shipping goods
on consignment. [Rule 25]

§ 154.26 Exclusive dealing.

It is an unfair trade practice for any
member of the industry engaged in
commerce, in the course of such com-
merce, to lease or make a sale or con-
tract for sale of any industry product,
for use, consumption, or resale within
any place under the jurisdiction of the
United States, or fix a price charged
therefor, or discount from, or rebate
upon, such price, on the condition,
agreement, or understanding that the
lessee or purchaser thereof shall not
use or deal in the goods of a competi-
tor or competitors of the lessor or
seller, where the effect of such lease,
sale, or contract for sale, or such con-
dition, agreement, or understanding,
may be to substantially lessen compe-
tition or tend to create a monopoly in
any line of commerce. (Rule 26]

§ 154.27 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-
iy or indirectly, to use or promote the
use of any unfair trade practice pro-
hibited by this part. [Rule 27]

PART 157—CATALOG JEWELRY AND
GIFTWARE iNDUSTRY

Note: FTC Order File No. 21-515, 22 FR
4567, June 28, 1957, provides in part that
Part 23 of this chapter supersedes Part 157
with respect only to jewelry items covered
in Part 157.

Groop 1

Sec.

157.1 Misbranding and misrepresentation.

157.2 Passing off inferior sterling silver-
ware as that of superior grade, etc.

157.3 Deceptive pricing.

157.4 Misrepresentation of character of
business.

157.5 Deceptive set-up of disclosed infor-
mation.

157.6 Commercial bribery.


Chapter I—Federal Trade Commissian

Sec.

157.7 Imitation of trade-marks,
names, etc.

157.8 Combination or coercion to fix
prices, suppress competition, or restrain
trade.

157.9 Discrimination.

157.10 Aiding or abetting use of unfair
trade practices.

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

Source: 8 FR 17258, Dec. 23, 1943, unless
otherwise noted.

Groopr I

§ 157.1 Misbranding and misrepresenta-
tion.

(a) The use on any product or article
offered for sale, sold, or distributed of
any marks, brands, or labels which are
false, misleading, or deceptive in re-
spect of such product or article, or in
respect of the grade, quallty, quantity,
use, size, weight, material content,
origin, preparation, manufacture, or
distribution thereof, or which are
false, misleading, or deceptive in any
other respect, is an unfair trade prac-
tice.

(b) It is an unfair trade practice to
make or publish, or cause to be made
or published, in advertisements, cata-
iogs, bulletins, circulars, or by radio, or
in any other manner, any statement or
representation which is false, mislead-
ing, or deceptive in respect of any
product or article offered for sale,
sold, or distributed, or in respect of
the grade, quallty, quantity, use, size,
weight, material, content, origin, prep-
aration, manufacture, or distribution
thereof, or which is false, misleading,
or deceptive in any other respect.

§ 157.2 Passing off inferior sterling silver-
ware as that of superior grade, etc.

It is an unfair trade practice to pass
off, directly or indirectly, through any
ineans or device, any sterling silver-
ware of a certain grade, quallty, thick-
ness, or weight as and for sterling sil-
verware of superior grade, quallty,
thickness, or weight, with the capacity
and tendency or effect of misleading
or deceiving purchasers or prospective
purchasers.

trade

29

§ 157.3

§ 157.3 Deceptive pricing.

(a) It is an unfair trade practice to
use, in advertisements, catalogs, bulle-
tins, circulars, or other printed matter,
distributed to consumers, dealers, pur-
chasing agents, cooperative buying
groups or others, any price marks,
price designations, or so-called prices,
or figures, words, or marks purporting
to be prices, when such do not repre-
sent actual bona fide selling prices, or
which are misleading or deceptive in
any respect. Nothing in this section,
however, shall be so construed as:

(1) To prevent the use in catalogs or
sales literature of figures, letters, or
symbols, or combinations thereof, pur-
porting merely to be the catalog
number of the item or article listed,
which number Is not accompanied by
the doliar sign or decimal point indi-
cating doliars and cents, and is not
represented to be, and does not by po-
sition on the page or otherwise pur-
port to be, a price of any kind, but is
used to provide a number and basis for
use in computing the dealer’s or pur-
chaser’s cost (illustrative number
159301975”);

(2) To prevent the use in catalogs or
sales literature of the term “Catalog
Figure” (or its abbreviation “Cat.
Fig.”) followed by a number, or the
use of a number immediately preceded
or followed by a symbol, when such
term, number, or symbol] is not accom-
panied by the doliar sign or decimal
point indicating doliars and cents, and
when such term, number, or symbol as
used is not a price of any kind nor is
represented as such, but, while occu-
pying a position on the page ordinarily
occupied by price marks, is used
merely to provide a number and basis
for computing the dealer’s or purchas-
er’s cost, which method is described on
another page: Provided, however, That
on each page showing such term,
number, or symbol, there is conspicu-
ously and prominently set forth a
notice to the effect that the “Catalog
Figure” or “Cat. Fig.,” or the number
immediately preceded or followed by a
symbol, is not a price but is a number
or code mark froin which the sehing
price of the catalog house is deter-
mined. The following are examples of
such markings specified in this para-
graph:


§ 157.4

(Description of article offered for
sale) Cat. Fig. 18%

or
(Description of article offered for
sale) Cat. Fig. 18%

or
(Description of article offered for
sale) 1244
(At the top or bottom of each page, notice to the
following effect is to be set forth in clear and con-
epicuous form, heavy bold type in contrasting color
preferred:)

Notice: The figures designated Catalog
Figures (Cat. Fig.) shown on this page are
not retail prices nor any other prices. They
are merely assigned figures from which the
dealer or purchaser may determine his cost.

or

/ ++This is not a price but a code symbol
from which you find your cost. See page

(b) Nothing in this section shall be
construed as prohibiting the showing
of a bona fide suggested resale price
when clearly and nondeceptively des-
ignated as a suggested resale price:
Provided, That as a resale price it is
fair and reasonable and is not ficti-
tiously inflated nor deceptively higher
than the ordinary going resale price in
the general market for such articles of
the grade and quallty to which the
suggested resale price is applied: And
provided further, That no deception is
practiced in respect thereto.

(c) Except insofar as authorized or
required by law, nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed as requiring or
permitting any number of the indus-
try or other person to cause, directly
or indirectly, any dealer or other re-
seller to charge any certain price or to
fix or control the price at which any
such dealer, reseller, or other person
shall sell or resell any product.

§ 157.4 Misrepresentation of character of
business.

(a) It is an unfair trade practice for
any member of the industry, through
catalogs, advertisements, or other
means, to represent or hold himself or
itself out directly or indirectly as
being a wholesaler, jobber, distributor,
wholesale distributor, wholesale jewel-
er, manufacturer, manufacturing
wholesaler, manufacturer’s distribu-
tor, importer, or exporter:

(1) Unless such member of the in-
dustry is respectively such wholesaler

Title 16—Commerclal Practices

jobber, distributor, wholesale distribu-
tor, wholesale jeweler, manufacturer,
manufacturing wholesaler, manufac-
turer’s distributor, importer, or ex-
porter in respect of all the articles or
products offered for sale or advertised
in such catalogs or under such repre-
sentations; or

(2) Unless, when true in part only,
the representation is accompanied, in
immediate conjunction, by such ex-
plicit qualifications or disclosure as
will confine the representation within
truthful scope, expressed and implied,
showing the fact that such member is,
as the case may be, such wholesaler,
jobber, distributor, wholesale distribu-
tor, wholesale jeweler, manufacturer,
manufacturing wholesaler, manufac-
turer’s distributor, importer, or ex-
porter as to only a certain stated pro-
portion, or designated groups, of arti-
cles (or only as to certain specified ar-
ticles) and not as to all the articles or
products offered for sale, advertised,
cataloged, or sold under or in connec-
tion with such representation.

(b) It is an unfair trade practice for
any member of the industry to repre-
sent, by catalog, advertisement, or oth-
erwise, that any article or product of-
fered for sale by such member may be
secured directly or indirectly from
such member at the usual wholesale
price or at other designated price
when such is not true in fact.

§157.5 Deceptive set-up of disclosed infor-
mation.

In setting forth any statement, des-
ignation, or other information to be
disclosed under any of the rules in this
part, the same shall be set forth clear-
ly and unequlvocally and not in a
minimized or obscured manner, nor
shall it be remotely or inconspicuously
placed. Fallure or refusal to make
such disclosure in accord with the pro-
visions of the sections in this part,
thereby causing or promoting decep-
tion of the purchasing or consuming
public or injury to competition, is an
unfair trade practice.

§ 157.6 Commercial bribery.

It is an unfair trade practice for a
member of the industry, directly or in-
directly, to give, or offer to give, or
permit or cause to be given, money or

30


Chapter |—Federal Trade Cammission

anything of value to agents, employ-
ees, or representatives of customers or
prospective customers, or to managers,
superintendents, personnel officers,
purchasing agents, or persons occupy-
ing similar positions in any business,
without the knowledge of their em-
ployers or principals, as an induce-
ment to influence such employers,
principals, customers or prospective
customers to purchase or contract to
purchase products manufactured or
sold by such industry member or the
maker of such gift or offer, or to influ-
ence such employers, principals, cus-
tomers or prospective customers to re-
frain from purchasing or dealing in
the products of competitors or from
dealing or contracting to deal with
competitors.

$157.7 Imitation of trade-marks, trade
names, etc.

The imitation or simulation of the
trade-marks, trade names, brands, or
labels of competitors, with the capac-
ity and tendency or effect of mislead-
ing or deceiving the purchasing or con-
suming public, ls an unfair trade prac-
tice.

§ 157.8 Combination or coercion to fix
prices, suppress competition, or re-
strain trade.

It ls an unfair trade practice for a
member of the industry or any person,
firm, partnership, corporation, or asso-
ciation:

(a) To use, directly or indirectly, any
form of threat, intimidation, or coer-
cion against any member of the indus-
try to unlawfully fix, maintain, or en-
hance prices, suppress competition, or
restrain trade; or

(b) To enter into or take part in, di-
rectly or indirectly, any agreement,
understanding, combination, conspir-
acy, or concert of action with one or
more inembers of the industry, or with
one or more persons, firms, partner-
ships, corporations, or associations, to
unlawfully fix, maintain, or enhance
prices, suppress competition, or
strain trade.

§ 157.9 Discriminatiou.

(a) Prohibited discriminatory prices,
or rebates, refunds, discounts, credits,
etc., which effect unlawful price dis-

31

§ 157.9

crimination. It is an unfair trade prac-
tice for any member of the industry
engaged in commerce, in the course of
such commerce, to grant or allow, se-
cretly or openly, dircctly 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 competltion
with any person who either grants or
knowingly receives the benefit of such
discrimination, or with customers of
either of them: Provided, however, (1)
That the goods involved in any such
transaction are sold for use, consump-
tion, or resale within any place under
the jurisdiction of the United States;

(2) That nothing contained in this
section 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;

(3) That nothing contained in this
section shall prevent persons engaged
in seliing 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
scction shall prevent price changes
from time to time where made in re-
sponse to changing conditions affect-
ing either (i) the market for the goods
concerned, or (ii) the marketability of
the goods, such as, but not limited to,
actual or imminent deterioration of
perishable goods, obsolescence of sea-
sonal goods, distress sales under court
process, or sales in good falth in dis-
continuance of business in the goods
concerned.

(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


§ 157.10

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.

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

(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 faver of one purchaser against
another purchaser cr purchasers of a
commodity bought for resale, with or
without processing, by contracting to
furnish or furnishing of, any services
or facilities connected with the pro-
cessing, handling, sale, or offering for
sale, cf such commodity so purchased
upon terms not accorded to ail pur-
chasers on propcrtionally equai terms.

(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 commeree, knowingly
to induce or receive a discrimination in
price which is prohibited by the fore-
going provisions of this section.

(f) Purchases by schools, colleges, .

universities, public libraries, churehes,

Title 16—Commercial Practices

hospitals, and charitable institutions
not operated for profit. The foregoing
provisions of this section relate to
practices within the purview of the
Robinson-Patman Antidiscrimination
Act, which Act and the application
thereunder of this section are subject
to the limitations expressed in the
amendment to such Robinson-Patman
Antidiserimination Act which amend-
ment was approved May 26, 1938, and
reads as foliows:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That noth-
ing in the Act approved June 19, 1936
(Public, Numbered 692, Seventy-fourth Con-
gress, second session), known as the Robin-
son Patman Antidiscrimination Act, shall
apply to purchases of their supplies for
their own use by schools, colieges, universi-
ties, public libraries, churches, hospitals,
and charitabie institutions not operated for
profit.

(Sec. 2, 38 Stat. 730, as amended, secs. 2, 3,
4, 49 Stat. 1527, 1528, ch. 283, 52 Stat. 446;
15 U.S.C. 13, 13a, 13b, 13¢, 21a)

§ 157.10 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 the sections in this part.

PART 160—WATER HEATER
INDUSTRY

Grovr I

Sec.

160.1 Misrepresentation in general.

160.2 Mlsrepresentation as to character of
business.

160.3 Deceptive use of trade or corporate
names, or trade-marks, etc.

160.4 Other false or deceptive selling meth-
ods.

160.5 Guarantees, warranties, etc.
160.6 Misuse of terms “close-outs,’”’ “discon-
tinued lines,” “special bargains,’’ etc.
160.7 Misrepresentation as to installment
sales contracts, their terms, conditions,
etc.

160.8 Misrepresenting products as _ con-
forming to standard.

160.9 Deception as to rebuilt or second-
hand products.

160.10 Imitation of trade-marks,
names, etc.

trade

32