Title 16

SECTION 305.27

305.27 Paper catalogs and Web sites.

§ 305.27 Paper catalogs and Web sites. Link to an amendment published at 86 FR 9283, Feb. 12, 2021.

(a) Covered products offered for sale on the Internet. Any manufacturer, distributor, retailer, or private labeler who advertises a covered product on an Internet Web site in a manner that qualifies as a catalog under this Part shall disclose energy information as follows:

(1) Content. - (i) Products required to bear EnergyGuide or Lighting Facts labels. All Web sites advertising covered refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers, room air conditioners, clothes washers, dishwashers, ceiling fans, pool heaters, central air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, general service lamps, specialty consumer lamps (for products offered for sale after May 2, 2018), and televisions must display, for each model, a recognizable and legible image of the label required for that product by this part. The Web site may hyperlink to the image of the label using the sample EnergyGuide and Lighting Facts icons depicted in appendix L of this part. The Web site must hyperlink the image in a way that does not require consumers to save the hyperlinked image in order to view it.

(ii) Products not required to bear EnergyGuide or Lighting Facts labels. All Web sites advertising covered showerheads, faucets, water closets, urinals, general service fluorescent lamps, fluorescent lamp ballasts, and metal halide lamp fixtures must include the following disclosures for each covered product. For plumbing products, the Web site may hyperlink to the disclosures using a prominent link labeled “Water Usage” or a similar description which facilitates the disclosure of the covered product's rated water usage.

(A) Showerheads, faucets, water closets, and urinals. The product's water use, expressed in gallons and liters per minute (gpm and L/min) or per cycle (gpc and L/cycle) or gallons and liters per flush (gpf and Lpf) as specified in this part.

(B) General service fluorescent lamps, fluorescent lamp ballasts, and metal halide lamp fixtures. A capital letter “E” printed within a circle.

(2) Format. The required Web site disclosures, whether label image, icon, or text, must appear clearly and conspicuously and in close proximity to the covered product's price on each Web page that contains a detailed description of the covered product and its price. The label and hyperlink icon must conform to the prototypes in appendix L, but may be altered in size to accommodate the Web page's design, as long as they remain clear and conspicuous to consumers viewing the page.

(b) Covered products offered for sale in paper catalogs. Any manufacturer, distributor, retailer, or private labeler that advertises a covered product in a paper publication that qualifies as a catalog under this Part shall disclose energy information as follows:

(1) Content. (i) Products required to bear EnergyGuide or Lighting Facts labels. All paper catalogs advertising covered products required by this Part to bear EnergyGuide or Lighting Facts labels illustrated in appendix L (refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, freezers, room air conditioners, clothes washers, dishwashers, ceiling fans, pool heaters, central air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, general service fluorescent lamps, general service lamps, and televisions) must either display an image of the full label prepared in accordance with this Part, or make a text disclosure as follows:

(A) Refrigerator, refrigerator-freezer, and freezer. The capacity of the model determined in accordance with this part, the estimated annual operating cost determined in accordance with this part, and a disclosure stating “Your energy cost depends on your utility rates and use. The estimated cost is based on __ cents per kWh. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/energy.

(B) Room air conditioners and water heaters. The capacity of the model determined in accordance with this part, the estimated annual operating cost determined in accordance with this part, and a disclosure stating “Your operating costs will depend on your utility rates and use. The estimated operating cost is based on a [electricity, natural gas, propane, or oil] cost of [$ __ per kWh, therm, or gallon]. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/energy.

(C) Clothes washers and dishwashers. The capacity of the model for clothes washers determined in accordance with this part and the estimated annual operating cost for clothes washers and dishwashers determined in accordance with this part, and a disclosure stating “Your energy cost depends on your utility rates and use. The estimated cost is based on [4 washloads a week for dishwashers, or 8 washloads a week for clothes washers] and _ cents per kWh for electricity and $_ per therm for natural gas. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/energy.

(D) General service fluorescent lamps or general service lamps. All the information concerning that lamp required by § 305.23 of this part to be disclosed on the lamp's package, and, for general service lamps, a disclosure stating “Your energy cost depends on your utility rates and use. The estimated cost and life is based on 11 cents per kWh and 3 hours of use per day. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/energy.” For the “Light Appearance” disclosure required by § 305.23(b)(3)(iv), the catalog need only disclose the lamp's correlated color temperature in Kelvin (e.g., 2700 K). General service fluorescent lamps or incandescent reflector lamps must also include a capital letter “E” printed within a circle and the statement described in § 305.23(g)(1).

(E) Ceiling fans. All the information required by § 305.21.

(F) Televisions. The estimated annual operating cost determined in accordance with this part and a disclosure stating “Your energy cost depends on your utility rates and use. The estimated cost is based on 12 cents per kWh and 5 hours of use per day. For more information, visit www.ftc.gov/energy.”

(G) Central air conditioners, heat pumps, and furnaces (including boilers), and pool heaters. The capacity of the model determined in accordance with this part and the energy efficiency or thermal efficiency ratings determined in accordance with this part on each page that lists the covered product.

(ii) Products not required to bear EnergyGuide or Lighting Facts labels. All paper catalogs advertising covered products not required by this part to bear labels with specific design characteristics illustrated in appendix L (showerheads, faucets, water closets, urinals, fluorescent lamp ballasts, and metal halide lamp fixtures) must make a text disclosure for each covered product identical to those required for Internet disclosures under § 305.27(a)(1)(ii).

(2) Format. The required disclosures, whether text, label image, or icon, must appear clearly and conspicuously on each page that contains a detailed description of the covered product and its price. If a catalog displays an image of the full label, the size of the label may be altered to accommodate the catalog's design, as long as the label remains clear and conspicuous to consumers. For text disclosures made pursuant to § 305.27(b)(1)(i) and (ii), the required disclosure may be displayed once per page per type of product if the catalog offers multiple covered products of the same type on a page, as long as the disclosure remains clear and conspicuous.

[78 FR 2209, Jan. 10, 2013, as amended at 80 FR 67300, Nov. 2, 2015; 82 FR 29236, June 28, 2017. Redesignated at 84 FR 58029, Oct. 30, 2019, as amended at 84 FR 58037, Oct. 30, 2019]