[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR16.5]

[Page 176]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
PART 16--PROCEDURES FOR A VOLUNTARY CONSUMER PRODUCT INFORMATION LABELING PROGRAM--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 16.5  Development of performance information labeling specifications.

    (a) If the Secretary makes a finding of need pursuant to Sec. 16.4, 
she will publish a proposed Performance Information Labeling 
Specification in the Federal Register with a notice giving the complete 
text of the proposed Specification and any other pertinent information. 
The notice will invite any interested person to submit written comments 
on the proposed Specification within 45 days after its publication in 
the Federal Register, unless another time limit is provided by the 
Secretary. Interested persons wanting to express their views in an 
informal hearing may do so, if within 15 days after the proposed 
Specification is published in the Federal Register, they request the 
Secretary to hold a hearing. Such informal hearings shall be held so as 
to give all interested persons an opportunity for the oral presentation 
of data, views, or arguments in addition to the opportunity to make 
written submissions. Notice of such hearings shall be published in the 
Federal Register. A transcript shall be kept of any oral presentations.
    (b) Each Specification shall as a minimum include:
    (1) A description of the performance characteristics of the consumer 
product covered;
    (2) An identification by reference of the test methods to be used in 
measuring the performance characteristics. The test methods, where they 
exist and are deemed appropriate for inclusion in the particular 
Specification involved, shall be those which are described in 
nationally-recognized voluntary standards. Where appropriate test 
methods do not exist, they will be developed by the Department of 
Commerce in cooperation with interested parties and set out in full in 
the Specification;
    (3) A prototype label and directions for displaying the label on or 
with the consumer product concerned. Such directions will not prohibit 
the display of additional information by the participant on space 
adjacent to the marked boundaries of the label; and
    (4) Conditions of participation.
    (c) The Secretary, after consideration of all written and oral 
comments and other materials received in accordance with paragraph (a) 
of this section, shall publish in the Federal Register within 30 days 
after the final date for receipt of comments, or as soon as practicable 
thereafter, a notice either:
    (1) Giving the complete text of a final Specification, including 
conditions of use, and stating that any prospective participant in the 
program desiring voluntarily to use the Department of Commerce Mark 
developed under Sec. 16.10 must advise the Department of Commerce: or
    (2) Stating that the proposed Specification will be further 
developed before final publication; or
    (3) Withdrawing the proposed Specification from further 
consideration.