John (Steele), I read "Selective Enforcement" to mean using *only the declarations in metric units* for enforcement decisions, not to mean the discretion to inspect some packages and not other packages. No laws would be violated!
Declarations in units from outside the SI would be *excluded* as the basis for enforcement decisions. The current FPLA specifies that the larger declared amount (in SI or not-SI) be used for inspections. Of course, overstatements of net amounts in packages would have to be prohibited, when expressed in those other units from outside the SI. "Maximum Allowed Variations" (MLV) as prescribed in the NIST Handbooks, would apply to the metric declarations, and "understatements" (if only in the third decimal place) of net amounts would be required for declarations in the non-SI units. A ruling by the FTC for enforcement of only the metric declarations can be fully compliant with the current FPLA if all other declarations are required to be understated. Eugene Mechtly ________________________________ From: ezra.steinb...@comcast.net [ezra.steinb...@comcast.net] Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 11:26 PM To: mechtly, eugene a Cc: USMA Subject: Re: [USMA:54204] FW: Comments to FTC from the NCWM & NIST Thanks, Gene! Let's hope the FTC does the right thing and issues that ruling. What a great step forward that would be. (And too bad for the FMI, eh? ;-) Ezra ________________________________ From: "eugene a mechtly" <mech...@illinois.edu> To: "USMA" <usma@colostate.edu> Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 6:41:47 PM Subject: [USMA:54204] FW: Comments to FTC from the NCWM & NIST Eugene Mechtly ________________________________ From: Butcher, Kenneth S. [kenneth.butc...@nist.gov] Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2014 8:27 AM To: mechtly, eugene a Cc: Gentry, Elizabeth; Hockert, Carol; Warfield, Lisa; Sefcik, David; 'lorelle...@aol.com'; Mark Henschel Subject: Comments to FTC from the NCWM & NIST Mr. Mechtly Attached is a PDF of the comments the National Conference on Weights and Measures submitted to the FTC regarding their regulatory review of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) that you requested. Please see comment Number 5 which encourages FTC to consider allowing metric only labeling under its rulemaking authority. NIST worked closely with the NCWM to prepare and submit the comments. The FTC was already well aware that both the NIST and the NCWM have supported voluntary metric only labeling since 1999 when the Uniform Packaging and Labeling Regulation in NIST Handbook 130 was amended. This URL will take you to the NIST Handbook 130: http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/pubs/hb130-14.cfm This URL will take you to the proposed amendment to FPLA to permit metric only label: http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/pack-lab.cfm. Copies of both publications have been given to FTC. Ken Butcher National Institute of Standards and Technology Office of Weights and Measures
