National Retail Chain - Product Label

In January 2004, the Competition Bureau received a complaint alleging that brooms being sold through a national retail chain were labelled with "Imported by" statements as well as bearing a "Made in Canada" declaration.

Under subsection 7 of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and Regulations and under 74.01 (1) of the Competition Act, it is illegal to apply a label on a product that contains any false or misleading information.

After discussions with Bureau officials, the retailer provided written assurance that:

• All "Made in Canada" claims would be removed, either by blacking out the logo or placing a sticker over it; and
• All future retail products would be correctly labelled.

These corrective actions were taken on products distributed to retail, warehoused or in-stock at the supplier, as well as all the packaging inventory.

This matter was resolved in March 2004.

(3079494)