How do I identify the principal display panel on a can or bottle?

On a cylindrical surface, the principal display panel is the 40 percent of the circumference that is more likely to be displayed, presented, shown, or examined under normal and customary conditions of display for retail sale. The same 40 percent figure also sets the panel's area for the type-size rule: for a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical container, the area is 40 percent of the product of the container's height times its circumference.

Can a package have more than one principal display panel?

A package can use alternate principal display panels, but each alternate must duplicate the information required to be placed on the principal display panel. The container closure can also bear the panel, if that location is the one most likely to be displayed, presented, shown, or examined under normal and customary conditions of display for retail sale.

What can a business do when the container is tiny or decorative?

For a decorative container, or one with a capacity of 1/4 ounce (7.4 mL) or less, the panel may be treated as a tear-away tag or tape affixed to the container and bearing the mandatory label information, although the container's own dimensions still govern the type size of the net quantity statement. When the commodity is sold on a display card to which the immediate container is affixed, the panel may be considered the display panel of the card, and the card's dimensions then govern the net quantity type size.

Are small packages exempt from the bottom-30-percent placement rule for net quantity?

On a principal display panel of 5 square inches or less, the bottom-30-percent placement requirement does not apply when the declaration meets the other requirements of the part. Separately, the separation, location, and type-size requirements are waived for variety and combination packages.

How is letter height measured for the net quantity statement?

Letter heights pertain to upper case or capital letters, and when upper and lower case or all lower case letters are used, the lower case letter “o” or its equivalent must meet the minimum standard. A letter also may not be more than three times as high as it is wide.

Do individual units inside a multipack need their own labeling?

Each unit intended for individual sale separate from the larger package must be labeled in compliance with the labeling regulations that apply to that package.

Is a retailer responsible for the principal display panel on products it sells?

A wholesale or retail distributor is covered only to the extent that it packages or labels the commodity, or prescribes or specifies by any means how the commodity is packaged or labeled.

LabelingLegal test

Principal display panel

Berkeley Robinson, Managing Attorney at Robinson Law Firm PLLC

Author

Berkeley Robinson, Esq.

Managing Attorney, Robinson Law Firm PLLC

Berkeley has served as the go-to counsel for many scaling businesses in a transactional and litigation management capacity. Before becoming an attorney, Berkeley grew sales teams, ran online marketing campaigns, and did everything else an entrepreneur does—and still does today as the founder of two online businesses.

Definition

A principal display panel is that part of a label that is most likely to be displayed, presented, shown, or examined under normal and customary conditions of display for retail sale. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1459(f) The panel must be large enough to hold all the mandatory label information that the FTC's labeling regulations require on it, without obscuring designs, vignettes, or crowding. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.2(h)

Key legal rules

Several labeling rules require information to appear on the principal display panel, and the main duties that attach to it are these:

The principal display panel must be large enough to accommodate all the mandatory label information required to be placed on it without obscuring designs, vignettes, or crowding. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.2(h)
The principal display panel of a consumer commodity must bear a specification of the identity of the commodity, as a principal feature of the panel, in a type size and position that make it easy for the consumer to read and understand, and in lines generally parallel to the base on which the package rests as it is designed to be displayed. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.4(a)–(b)
The net quantity of contents must be separately and accurately stated in a uniform location upon the principal display panel, using the most appropriate units of both the customary inch/pound system and, subject to stated exceptions, the SI metric system. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1453(a)(2)
The net quantity declaration must be placed on the principal display panel within the bottom 30 percent of the area of the label panel, in lines generally parallel to the base; on a commodity whose principal display panel is 5 square inches or less, that placement requirement does not apply when the declaration meets the other requirements of the part. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.6
The net quantity statement must be in letters and numerals whose type size is established in relationship to the area of the principal display panel and is uniform for all packages of substantially the same size. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.21 On the smallest panels, those of 5 square inches or less, the letters must still be not less than 1/16 inch in height. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.21
Supplemental net quantity statements may appear at locations other than the principal display panel if they describe the contents in non-deceptive terms and include no term qualifying a unit of weight or mass, measure, or count that tends to exaggerate the amount in the package. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.24 Required combination declarations of net quantity are not supplemental statements and must be located on the principal display panel. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.24
Unless the statute provides otherwise, the cautionary statement it requires under subsection (a) or (b) must be displayed in its entirety on the principal display panel of the product’s package. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1278(d) The statement may go on another panel only if the package has a principal display panel of 15 square inches or less and the required statement is displayed in three or more languages, Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1278(d) and the principal display panel must then carry the specified statement with an arrow or other indicator pointing to where the required statement appears. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1278(d)
Under the energy labeling regulations, and unless an exception in those regulations applies, the principal display panel of a general service lamp package must be labeled clearly and conspicuously with each lamp's light output, expressed as “Brightness” in average initial lumens rounded to the nearest five, and its estimated annual energy cost. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 305.23(b)(1) A ceiling fan covered by those regulations carries its label on the package's principal display panel as well. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 305.21(a)

For the sake of space, this page lists only the primary rules related to this term that most businesses should follow. More may apply to your situation, and your unique facts affect how they apply.

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Why these rules exist

Because the principal display panel is defined by what a shopper actually sees, the law uses it as the place where the information a buyer needs at the shelf has to appear. The statute requires the net quantity of contents to be “separately and accurately stated in a uniform location upon the principal display panel” of the label, which lets a shopper find the amount in the same place on every package instead of hunting for it. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1453(a)(2) The identity statement gets the same treatment: it must be a principal feature of the panel and sized and positioned so the consumer can easily read and understand it. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.4(a)–(b) Requiring the panel to be large enough to hold all of that required information without crowding keeps the mandatory words from being squeezed out by artwork. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 500.2(h)

FTC orders apply the same logic to disclosures. One FTC decision and order defines a clear and conspicuous disclosure so that, on a product label, the disclosure “must be presented on the principal display panel.” Source: In re Carrot Neurotechnology, Inc., Decision and Order A disclosure printed on a side or back panel can sit where a buyer deciding at the shelf never looks, and tying the label disclosure to the panel prevents that. The Juno Online Services order frames the same point in terms of noticeability, requiring that a label disclosure be in a type size and location on the panel sufficiently noticeable for an ordinary consumer to read and comprehend it. Source: In re Juno Online Services, Inc., Decision and Order

Enforcement examples

In re ICP Construction (architectural coatings sold as Muralo Paints)

In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints): Decision and Order

The ICP Construction order bars ICP Construction Inc., d/b/a Muralo Paints, from representing, expressly or by implication, that the emission level or the VOC level of a covered product is zero unless the representation is non-misleading. That means the company must possess and rely upon competent and reliable scientific evidence sufficient in quality and quantity. Source: In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints), Decision and Order, Docket No. C4648 A covered product, under the order, is any architectural coating applied to stationary structures, portable structures, and their appurtenances. Source: In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints), Decision and Order, Docket No. C4648 The order's definition of a clear and conspicuous disclosure adds that, on a product label, the disclosure must be presented on the principal display panel. Source: In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints), Decision and Order, Docket No. C4648

Outcome. Within 60 days after the order's effective date, ICP had to deliver a notice to all of its dealers and distributors and to all other entities to which it provided point-of-sale advertising, including product labels. Source: In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints), Decision and Order, Docket No. C4648 The order terminates on April 24, 2038, or 20 years from the most recent date that the United States or the Commission files a complaint alleging a violation of the order, whichever comes later. Source: In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints), Decision and Order, Docket No. C4648

In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC (truck bunk warmers and Made in USA claims)

In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (issued October 25, 2022)

The Electrowarmth order bars the respondents from representing that a product is Made in the United States unless the final assembly or processing occurs in the United States, all significant processing occurs in the United States, and all or virtually all ingredients or components are made and sourced in the United States, or one of the order's other alternatives is met. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022) The order's definition of a clear and conspicuous disclosure provides that, on a product label, the disclosure must be presented on the principal display panel. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022) For imported textile fiber products, the order separately requires a label naming the country where the product was processed or manufactured. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022)

Outcome. The respondents must pay the Commission $815,809 as a judgment for monetary relief. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022) Payment of that judgment is suspended, Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022) but the suspension will be lifted as to any respondent if the Commission concludes that the respondent failed to disclose any material asset, materially misstated the value of any asset, or made any other material misstatement or omission in the financial representations it submitted. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022) The order also required the respondents to identify consumers who bought an Electrowarmth truck bunk warmer from August 1, 2019 through May 1, 2022, and to notify each of them by mail or email. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022)

Stipulated Order against David Rosenthal (DR Phone Communications, prepaid calling cards)

Stipulated Order of Preliminary Injunction and Other Equitable Relief (DR Phone Communications, Inc.)

The stipulated order of preliminary injunction runs against David Rosenthal, individually and in his roles with DR Phone Communications, Inc., d/b/a DRphonecom.com. Source: Stipulated Order of Preliminary Injunction and Other Equitable Relief (DR Phone Communications, Inc.) It concerns prepaid calling cards and the fees and charges assessed in connection with their use, which the order lists as including any maintenance fee, weekly fee, monthly fee, connection fee, payphone fee, cell phone fee, access number fee, service fee, hang-up fee, or expiration date. Source: Stipulated Order of Preliminary Injunction and Other Equitable Relief (DR Phone Communications, Inc.)

Outcome. The order defines a clear and prominent disclosure on a product label or prepaid calling card as one in a type size and location on the principal display panel sufficiently noticeable for an ordinary consumer to read and comprehend it, in print that contrasts with the background. Source: Stipulated Order of Preliminary Injunction and Other Equitable Relief (DR Phone Communications, Inc.)

Exposure

A business that distributes a consumer commodity in a package, or with a label, that does not conform to the packaging and labeling statute and its regulations violates that statute. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1452 For a commodity that is not a food, drug, device, or cosmetic, the violation constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or practice in violation of section 45(a) and is subject to enforcement under section 45(b). Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1456(a)–(b) A food, drug, device, or cosmetic introduced into commerce in violation of the statute or its regulations is instead deemed misbranded under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1456(a)–(b)

FTC orders that treat the principal display panel as the required place for label disclosures show what an order can impose. In Electrowarmth Products, the respondents must pay $815,809 as a judgment for monetary relief, with payment suspended unless the Commission concludes that a respondent misstated or omitted material financial information. Source: In re Electrowarmth Products, LLC, Decision and Order (Oct. 25, 2022) In ICP Construction, the respondent had to notify its dealers and distributors. Source: In the Matter of ICP Construction (Muralo Paints), Decision and Order, Docket No. C4648

Product-specific labeling rules that rely on the panel carry their own consequences. Under the energy labeling regulations, it is unlawful, and subject to the enforcement penalties of the statute those regulations implement, for a manufacturer or private labeler knowingly to distribute a new covered product that is not marked or labeled as the regulations require. Source: 16 C.F.R. § 305.7(a)(1) A toy, game, balloon, ball, or marble that does not comply with the cautionary-label requirements is considered a misbranded hazardous substance. Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1278(d)

FAQs

1.s1459. 15 U.S.C. § 1459(f)See also 16 CFR 500.2. 16 C.F.R. § 500.2(h)
2.16 CFR 500.2. 16 C.F.R. § 500.2(h)
3.16 CFR 500.2. 16 C.F.R. § 500.2(h)