Renewed pride in American manufacturing has made it more fashionable—and profitable—for companies to wax patriotic in their advertising, even when the claims are far from bona fide. “We see many goods which say ‘Made in the USA,’ but they’re actually made in China,” says Hal Sirkin, a senior partner at The Boston Consulting Group, global-management consultants.
The federal government’s “Made in USA” standards empower the Federal Trade Commission to take action against companies that make false or misleading claims.
All or almost all of a product bearing the label must be of U.S. origin, i.e., it should contain no foreign content (or a negligible amount) and its final assembly or processing must take place within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or U.S. territories and possessions.
But the standards also allow manufacturers to make “qualified” claims for products that aren’t entirely of domestic origin. One example: a GE refrigerator with 87 percent U.S. content.
Why fakes sneak through
The role of the FTC is to provide guidance to companies that want to use the label; it doesn’t police every product on the market. “It’s often a question of context,” says Julia Solomon Ensor, a lawyer for the agency. “A product may convey that it’s made in the USA, with a huge American flag on the package, but then there will be a tiny qualifier saying it consists of 100 percent imported parts.”
The FTC would certainly challenge that kind of claim, but only after receiving a formal complaint from an outside party. “Most complaints come from competing companies, who can best determine if a product is truly made in the U.S.,” Ensor says. “It’s very difficult for the typical consumer to know if a claim is true or not.”
It doesn’t help that the FTC standards allow companies to design their own labels, unlike the federal Energy Star program, for example, with its distinctive blue label that’s a recognized mark of energy efficiency. ‘Made in the USA’ labels, by comparison, take many forms, as the examples below show.
Paradoxically, plenty of products that really are manufactured domestically don’t carry a ‘Made in America’ label. For example, many Kenmore appliances are produced in the U.S., but you won’t see any patriotic labeling on them because Kenmore also has contracts with foreign manufacturers.
How to recognize imports
Given the vagaries of “Made in the USA” labeling, another strategy is to look for a “Country of Origin” mark, which Customs and Border Protection require on all imported products. It must be in a conspicuous place where it can be seen with casual handling, so you should be able to find it easily while shopping in a store. With refrigerators, for example, the country of origin is on the manufacturing sticker usually found on an interior wall. With gas grills, the sticker can be found on the back of the metal frame or cart. (Bear in mind that the marking isn’t required on American-made products.)
We’ve mined our current Ratings in a dozen product categories for recommended models that were made in the USA out of mostly U.S.-supplied parts, even if their manufacturers don’t advertise the fact. See our list.
If you come across a claim that seems bogus, file a complaint at ftc.gov or call 877-FTC-HELP. An investigation will probably take a while, and the FTC won’t respond to you directly, so playing the vigilante role won’t help with your immediate purchase. But you’ll be doing your part to uphold the integrity of the “Made in the USA” claim.
Source Article from http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/05/made-in-america/index.htm
