Alison Hunter

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Last month, the Direct Selling Association (DSA) launched the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DS-SRC), a new enforcement agency charged with policing the direct selling industry. The DS-SRC will be administered by the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, which operates under the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Direct selling companies use independent sellers to market and sell products and services, typically outside of a fixed retail establishment. One form of direct selling that has received significant scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is multilevel marketing (MLM), which distributes products or services through a network of independent salespeople who earn income from their own retail sales and from retail sales made by their direct and indirect recruits.
Continue Reading Proactive Self-Regulatory Council for the Direct Selling Industry Launches in January

Key Takeaway:

Companies making Made in USA claims should adhere to Federal Trade Commission guidance and state law, as such claims are likely to draw attention from regulators and class action plaintiffs.  Additional detail on regulatory compliance can be found in our prior post.

Deceptive Made in USA advertising continues to draw attention from the FTC. The FTC recently settled with hockey puck producer Patriot Puck and recreational equipment sister companies Sandpiper and PiperGearUSA regarding their allegedly false Made in USA claims. This brings the total number of FTC enforcement actions arising from misleading U.S.-origin claims to 25 since 1999, with six of those actions having been initiated since April 2017.[1]…
Continue Reading Made in USA: The FTC Moves Against Two More Retailers