[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: 16CFR700.7]

[Page 529-530]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
                   CHAPTER I--FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
 
PART 700--INTERPRETATIONS OF MAGNUSON-MOSS WARRANTY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 700.7  Use of warranty registration cards.

    (a) Under section 104(b)(1) of the Act a warrantor offering a full 
warranty may not impose on consumers any duty other than notification of 
a defect as a condition of securing remedy of

[[Page 530]]

the defect or malfunction, unless such additional duty can be 
demonstrated by the warrantor to be reasonable. Warrantors have in the 
past stipulated the return of a ``warranty registration'' or similar 
card. By ``warranty registration card'' the Commission means a card 
which must be returned by the consumer shortly after purchase of the 
product and which is stipulated or implied in the warranty to be a 
condition precedent to warranty coverage and performance.
    (b) A requirement that the consumer return a warranty registration 
card or a similar notice as a condition of performance under a full 
warranty is an unreasonable duty. Thus, a provision such as, ``This 
warranty is void unless the warranty registration card is returned to 
the warrantor'' is not permissible in a full warranty, nor is it 
permissible to imply such a condition in a full warranty.
    (c) This does not prohibit the use of such registration cards where 
a warrantor suggests use of the card as one possible means of proof of 
the date the product was purchased. For example, it is permissible to 
provide in a full warranty that a consumer may fill out and return a 
card to place on file proof of the date the product was purchased. Any 
such suggestion to the consumer must include notice that failure to 
return the card will not affect rights under the warranty, so long as 
the consumer can show in a reasonable manner the date the product was 
purchased. Nor does this interpretation prohibit a seller from obtaining 
from purchasers at the time of sale information requested by the 
warrantor.