[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR700.5]

[Page 529]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
                   CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
 
PART 700--INTERPRETATIONS OF MAGNUSON-MOSS WARRANTY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 700.5  Expressions of general policy.

    (a) Under section 103(b), statements or representations of general 
policy concerning customer satisfaction which are not subject to any 
specific limitation need not be designated as full or limited 
warranties, and are exempt from the requirements of sections 102, 103, 
and 104 of the Act and rules thereunder. However, such statements remain 
subject to the enforcement provisions of section 110 of the Act, and to 
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45.
    (b) The section 103(b) exemption applies only to general policies, 
not to those which are limited to specific consumer products 
manufactured or sold by the supplier offering such a policy. In 
addition, to qualify for an exemption under section 103(b) such policies 
may not be subject to any specific limitations. For example, policies 
which have an express limitation of duration or a limitation of the 
amount to be refunded are not exempted. This does not preclude the 
imposition of reasonable limitations based on the circumstances in each 
instance a consumer seeks to invoke such an agreement. For instance, a 
warrantor may refuse to honor such an expression of policy where a 
consumer has used a product for 10 years without previously expressing 
any dissatisfaction with the product. Such a refusal would not be a 
specific limitation under this provision.