Utah Solves for Online Law Labeling Requirements

On August 30, 2024, the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (the Department) once again filed a notice of substantive change to the Bedding, Upholstered Furniture, and Quilted Clothing Rule (the Rule) which “establishes the standards, practices, and procedures for the manufacture, repair, sale and distribution of bedding, upholstered furniture, quilted clothing products, and filling materials” and applies to individuals and businesses involved in manufacturing, retailing (online and in person), wholesaling, processing, repairing, sterilizing, and selling of covered products in Utah. The revisions to the Rule, published in the September 15, 2024 Utah State Bulletin (the Revised Rule), addresses online sales of bedding, upholstered furniture, and quilted clothing.

Background

In April 2023, the Department announced a change to its policy of regulating and inspecting online retailers. The change would have required that online sales of bedding and furniture products display a law label on each product webpage (this is similar to the requirement that retail stores make law labels easily accessible to the consumer for examination). On October 3, 2023, the Department announced that while inspections of online retailers would begin on January 1, 2024, it would not issue penalties for noncompliance, and instead violation notices would be sent to the retailers/manufacturers as an educational tool until June 1, 2024.

In February 2024, in response to comments and feedback from industry partners, including special order manufacturers who expressed that they could not provide consumers with an online law label that accurately reflects the materials being supplied and utilized in the manufacturing of their products before purchasing, the Department announced that it had temporarily suspended the requirement to display law labels online. The Department stated that it intended to conduct a thorough assessment and make necessary adjustments to the Rule. In June 2024, the Department filed a notice of substantive change, indicating that it had considered feedback received from industry partners during the assessment. According to the Department, the Revised Rule was intended to protect businesses from unfair practices and bolster consumer protection through the online sales requirements listed in the Rule by informing consumers about their online purchases and decreasing the number of items that needed to be returned because they did not meet the consumer’s expectations. More specifically, the proposed revisions published in the Utah State Bulletin specified the online sales criteria for bedding, upholstered furniture, and quilted clothing to post either a digital law label or a digital textile label, respectively. The Department also added definitions to the Rule to clarify which articles require the applicable filling material, Uniform Registry Number (URN), and sterilization number on the appropriate article landing page.

Thereafter, on August 30, 2024, the Department filed a new notice of substantive rule change published in the September 15, 2024 Utah State Bulletin. These revisions clarified the definitions for “law label” and “textile label,” clarified digital labeling requirements for online sales of quilted clothing, bedding, and upholstered furniture, streamlined the language related to secondhand or used articles, and updated the language in Section R70-101-20 to specify who may or may not be in violation. Importantly, the Revised Rule also extended the compliance deadline for digital label requirements.

New Online Sales Requirements

The proposed changes will require online retailers of quilted clothing, bedding, and upholstered products (that are sold online and can be shipped to the state of Utah) to display certain information by listing it directly on the product webpage (in the product description section, product specifications area, image carousel, or another product page location approved by the Department) or through a hyperlink to an approved third-party website. The required information can be made available as an image (a digital textile label or digital law label) or as text. Quilted clothing products require a digital textile label that lists: (1) the product’s filling materials, (2) the product’s registered identification number assigned by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission under the Wool Products Labeling Act and Fur Products Labeling Act (this must match the information presented to the Department during registration for a quilted clothing permit), and (3) any applicable sterilization permit number. Bedding and upholstered products require a digital law label that lists: (1) the product’s filling materials, (2) the product’s URN, and (3) any applicable sterilization permit number.

The updates published on August 30, 2024, are open to public comment until October 15, 2024 and may change. The public may submit written or oral comments directly to the Department employees listed in the September 15, 2024 Utah State Bulletin. If no changes are made, the Department anticipates making the changes effective on October 22, 2024. If this version of the Rule is the one that goes into effect, online retailers will have until May 15, 2025 to comply with the digital law label and digital textile label requirements.

Violations of the Utah Agricultural Code are punishable either as a Class B misdemeanor, by citation of up to $500, or civilly by fines of up to $5,000 per occurrence.

For questions about product safety matters, please reach out to the authors of this Blog post or any of their colleagues on Arnold & Porter’s Consumer Product Safety team.

© Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 2024 All Rights Reserved. This Blog post is intended to be a general summary of the law and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.