Federal Trade Commission Received Documents Apr. 30, 1996 P894219 B18354900150 From: "William M. Burychka" by way of "Gregory E. Hales" To: HQ.HQO1 (dclark) Date: 4/29/96 9:25pm Subject: Comments to the Agency The Federal Register notice extending the time for comments on the "Made in USA" label issue requests comments in electronic form, to wit: "To encourage prompt and efficient review and dissemination of the comments to the public, all comments also should be submitted, if possible, in electronic form, on either a 5-1/4 or a 3-1/2 inch computer diskette, with a label on the diskette stating the name of the commenter and the name and version of the word processing program used to create the document. (Programs based on DOS are preferred. Files from other operating systems should be submitted in ASCII text format to be accepted.) Individuals filing comments need not submit multiple copies or comments in electronic form. Submissions should be captioned: "Made in USA Policy Comment," FTC File No.P894219." One cannot help but notice the lack of email as an option. As an ordinary citizen, presumably the ultimate intended beneficiary of the law, I would like to add my comments. I believe that the rule as now stated should be left alone. I don't think that a Toyota with 90% Japanese parts shipped to the US for final assembly should qualify as MADE IN USA. I do understand that there are certain products that of necessity contain foreign made components--in this case "necessity" means that there is not a US-made alternative. To serve those manufacturers who make a good faith best effort to make a US product, I would support alternative labeling, but not so many levels and qualifications that a proliferation of labels creates confusion. For a manufacturer who uses only imported parts of necessity but whom is truly a US manufacturer (not just repackaging), "Made in USA from All Available US Parts" For a manufacturer who merely completes final assembly of mostly imported components, "Assembled in USA from Imported Parts" or if more than 50% domestic manufacture, "Assembled in USA with some Imported Parts" Even this seems a little complicated, but as a citizen who wants to support US manufacturers with American employees, I do not believe that "Made in USA" should mean anything else! Thanks. William M. Burychka 141 1 1 Swallowfield Drive Houston, Texas 77077-1423 713-558-8247 burychkainfocom.net Received: by watchdog.ftc.gov (4.1/SMI-4.1-MHS-7.1) id AA 19940; Mon, 29 Apr 96 21:24:36 EDT Received: from dogbert.ftc.gov(164.62.21.12) by watchdog.ftc.gov via smap (V1.3) id sma0l9937; Mon Apr 29 21:24:11 1996 Message-Id: <1.5.4bl3.32.19960430012549.008fl388graywolf.ftc.gov> X-Sender: ghales@graywolf.ftc.gov X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.4bl 3 (32) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 21:25:49 -0400 To: dclark@ftc.gov From: "William M. Burychka" (by way of "Gregory E. Hales" ) Subject: Comments to the Agency