- cross-posted to:
- business
- cross-posted to:
- business
Home products retailer Williams-Sonoma will have to pay almost $3.2 million for violating a Federal Trade Commission “Made in USA” order.
Williams-Sonoma was charged with advertising multiple products as being “Made in USA” when they were in fact manufactured in other countries, including China. That violated a 2020 commission order requiring the San Francisco-based company to be truthful about whether its products were in fact made in the U.S.
The FTC said Friday that Williams-Sonoma has agreed to a settlement, which includes a $3.175 million civil penalty. That marks the largest-ever civil penalty seen in a “Made in USA” case, the commission said.
“Williams-Sonoma’s deception misled consumers and harmed honest American businesses,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. “Today’s record-setting civil penalty makes clear that firms committing Made-in-USA fraud will not get a free pass.”
In addition to paying the penalty, the seller of cookware and home furnishings will be required to submit annual compliance reports, the FTC said. The settlement also imposes and reinforces a number of requirements about manufacturing claims the company can make.
But the fine for lying in the reports is the same as this fine: much, much lower than the profits. The fines are inconsequential, so fake reports are also inconsequential.
The FTC has no teeth here. No one will be jailed. The fines will never be more than a fraction of a penny on the dollar. So, the required reports and even the fines mean nothing at all. Nothing. Even the bad press is likely to help them sell more goods.
Laws without teeth are not laws.
That’s wrong, actually. The fine they got last time was much smaller than this one, the fine they get next time can be expected to be even larger. The $3.175 Mn penalty for the 7 specific items sold with improper labeling is a new record for this specific violation.