[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 132 (Thursday, July 10, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39390-39392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16146]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 122 3016]
L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To
Aid Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint
and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--
that would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 30, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/l'orealconsent online or on paper, by following
the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section below. Write ``L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc.--Consent
Agreement; File No. 122 3016'' on your comment and file your comment
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/l'orealconsent by
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file
your comment on paper, mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor,
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Nach, Bureau of Consumer
Protection, (202-326-2611), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC
20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34,
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
[[Page 39391]]
placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained
from the FTC Home Page (for June 30, 2014), on the World Wide Web, at
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before July 30, 2014.
Write ``L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 122
3016'' on your comment. Your comment--including your name and your
state--will be placed on the public record of this proceeding,
including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web
site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of
discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact
information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web
site.
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number,
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any
sensitive health information, like medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the
public interest.
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\1\ In particular, the written request for confidential
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/l'orealconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form.
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also
may file a comment through that Web site.
If you file your comment on paper, write ``L'Or[eacute]al USA,
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 122 3016'' on your comment and on the
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary,
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the
Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that
it receives on or before July 30, 2014. You can find more information,
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent
order from L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc. (``L'Or[eacute]al'').
The proposed consent order (``proposed order'') has been placed on
the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by
interested persons. Comments received during this period will become
part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will
again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide
whether it should withdraw from the agreement or make final the
agreement's proposed order.
This matter involves L'Or[eacute]al's advertising for its
Lanc[ocirc]me G[eacute]nifique (``G[eacute]nifique'') and
L'Or[eacute]al Paris Youth Code (``Youth Code'') facial skincare
product lines. The Commission's complaint alleges that L'Or[eacute]al
advertised that G[eacute]nifique and Youth Code provided anti-aging
benefits by targeting users' genes, and that G[eacute]nifique provided
results to particular percentages of users.
The complaint alleges that the company violated Sections 5(a) and
12 of the Federal Trade Commission Act by making unsubstantiated
representations that G[eacute]nifique boosts the activity of genes,
thereby resulting in visibly younger skin in seven days, and that Youth
Code targets specific genes to make skin look younger, act younger, and
respond five times faster to aggressors such as stress, fatigue, and
aging. The complaint also alleges that L'Or[eacute]al violated Sections
5(a) and 12 by making false representations that scientific studies
prove these claims.
The complaint further alleges that L'Or[eacute]al violated Sections
5(a) and 12 by falsely representing that G[eacute]nifique is clinically
proven to produce specific results for particular percentages of users,
including perfectly luminous skin in 85% of women, astonishingly even
skin in 82% of women, and cushiony soft skin in 91% of women, in seven
days. These purported results were presented in a bar graph under the
words ``clinically proven.''
The proposed order includes injunctive relief that prohibits these
alleged violations and fences in similar and related violations. For
purposes of the order, ``Covered Product'' means any Lanc[ocirc]me
brand or L'Or[eacute]al Paris brand cosmetic, excluding hair, nail,
fragrance, mascara, and sunscreen products.
Part I of the proposed order prohibits L'Or[eacute]al from making
claims that any Lanc[ocirc]me brand or L'Or[eacute]al Paris brand
facial skincare product targets or boosts the activity of genes,
thereby resulting in skin that looks or acts younger, or skin that
responds five times faster to aggressors, without competent and
reliable scientific evidence for these claims. ``Competent and reliable
scientific evidence'' is defined to mean ``evidence, consisting of
tests, analyses, research, or studies that have been conducted and
evaluated in an objective manner by qualified persons and are generally
accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable results.''
Part II of the proposed order is a fencing-in provision that
prohibits L'Or[eacute]al from representing that any Covered Product
affects genes. The fencing-in provision provides broader product and
claims coverage than Part
[[Page 39392]]
I of the proposed order. It extends to products other than ``facial
skincare products,'' such as lip products and makeup, and covers any
gene claims.
Part III of the proposed order prohibits L'Or[eacute]al from
misrepresenting the existence, contents, validity, results,
conclusions, or interpretations of any test, study, or research in
connection with the manufacturing, labeling, advertising, promotion,
offering for sale, and sale or distribution of any Covered Product.
Part IV contains recordkeeping requirements for advertisements and
substantiation relevant to representations covered by Parts I through
III of the order.
Parts V through VII of the proposed order require L'Or[eacute]al
to: Deliver a copy of the order to principals, officers, and employees
having responsibilities with respect to the subject matter of the
order; notify the Commission of changes in corporate structure that
might affect compliance obligations under the order; and file
compliance reports with the Commission.
Part VIII provides that the order will terminate after twenty (20)
years, with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the
proposed order's terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-16146 Filed 7-9-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P