In addition to the general misleading advertising and other marketing related provisions of the federal Competition Act, the Competition Bureau (Bureau) also has jurisdiction over the following three specific federal marketing and labelling statutes: the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act and the Textile Labelling Act.
In general, these three federal packaging and labelling statutes prohibit false or misleading representations relating to pre-packaged consumer products, textiles and apparel and precious metals goods.
They also set out certain mandatory requirements for labelling, metric measurement declarations, bilingual product descriptions and the identity of dealers.
In addition to the legislation, further detailed requirements are set out in related regulations. The Bureau has also provided related guidance in Enforcement Guidelines (Guide to the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and Regulations, Guide to the Textile Labelling and Advertising Regulations and Guide to the Precious Metals Marking Act and Regulations).
CONSUMER PACKAGING AND LABELLING ACT
In general, the federal Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act (CPLA) prohibits false or misleading representations on pre-packaged consumer products. The legislation includes a non-exhaustive list of what constitutes “false or misleading representations”.
“Products” are defined broadly as any article that is or may be the subject of trade or commerce, including food. The CPLA applies to “dealers”, who are defined under the CPLA as retailers, manufacturers, processors or producers of a product (or importers or packagers of products).
The CPLA also prohibits dealers from importing or advertising prepackaged products unless certain labelling requirements are met, including product identity (common or generic name or function), product net quantity and the identity and the manufacturer’s principal place of business.
The CPLA also sets out certain mandatory bilingual labelling requirements. In this regard, all mandatory label information must be in English and French, except that the manufacturer’s name and address may appear in either language.
The following products are exempt from the CPLA: (i) drugs and medical devices; (ii) commercial, industrial or institutional use only products; (iii) export only products; (iv) products sold only to a duty-free store; (v) prepackaged textile articles; (vi) replacement parts for consumer durables (e.g., cars, appliances, etc.); and (vii) certain artists supplies.
With respect to enforcement, the Bureau is responsible for administering and enforcing the provisions of the CPLA relating to non-food products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency enforces the CPLA in relation to food products.
Penalties for contravening the CPLA include fines of up to $10,000. The CPLA also contains deeming provisions for corporate liability for acts committed by employees or agents and a director and officer liability provision, which provides that any officer, director or agent of the corporation who directed, authorized, assented to or acquiesced or participated in an offence is also a party to and guilty of the offence.
PRECIOUS METALS MARKING ACT
In general, the federal Precious Metals Marking Act (PMMA) prohibits false or misleading representations in relation to precious metal articles (articles made of silver, gold, palladium or platinum and alloys, including jewellery, hollow ware, watches, flatware, etc.).
The PMMA also includes requirements for statements that an article is a precious metal article and for quality marks.
TEXTILE LABELLING ACT
In general, the Textile Labelling Act (TLA) prohibits false and misleading representations in relation to consumer textile articles. The legislation also sets out detailed labelling requirements.
All consumer textile articles identified in the Regulations and which are to be offered for sale in Canada must be labelled in accordance with the TLA and Regulations.
Penalties for contravening the TLA include fines of up to $10,000.
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