The Federal Trade Commission finalized a new rule that will crack down on marketers who make false, unqualified claims that their products are Made in the USA. Under the rule, marketers making unqualified Made in USA claims on labels should be able to prove that their products are “all or virtually all” made in the United States.

Section 45a declares: “ [t]o the extent any person introduces, delivers for introduction, sells, advertises, or offers for sale in commerce a product with a 'Made in the U.S.A.' or ‘Made in America' label, or the equivalent thereof, in order to represent that such product was in whole or substantial part of domestic origin, such label shall be consistent with decisions and orders of the Federal Trade Commission.”

Under current Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines, a product may be advertised as “Made in the USA” if “all or virtually all” of the labor and materials in the product are domestic. While this standard is relatively strict, it allows a bit of flexibility in at least two situations.

There’s no law that requires most other products sold in the U.S. to be marked or labeled Made in USAor have any other disclosure about their amount of U.S. content. However, manufacturers and marketers who choose to make claims about the amount of U.S. content in their products must comply with the FTC’s Made in USApolicy.

According to the FTC, when consumers see Made in USA claims, they expect advertised products to be “all, or virtually all,” made in the United States. All the way back to raw materials. If that is not accurate, or a marketer is uncertain, a different representation should be made as long as it can be lawfully substantiated.