American Bar Association’s Business Law Today - December 2022

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a new Health Products Compliance Guidance document to provide guidance to businesses on how to ensure that claims about the benefits and safety of health-related products are truthful, not misleading, and supported by science. The Guidance replaces the FTC’s Dietary Supplements: An Advertising Guide for Industry document that was issued in 1998. The Guidance notes that, since 1998, the FTC has settled or adjudicated more than 200 cases involving false or misleading advertising claims about the benefits or safety of dietary supplements or other health-related products, including foods, over-the-counter drugs, homeopathic products, health equipment, diagnostic tests, and health-related apps.

The new Guidance is provided to illustrate how the FTC identifies the express and implied claims conveyed in advertising and how the FTC evaluates the scientific support for those claims. The Guidance states that the principles and examples are intended to help advertisers comply with the basic tenets of FTC law, but the Guidance does not have the force or effect of law and does not provide a safe harbor from potential liability.

Reprinted with permission from the American Bar Association’s Business Law Today December Month-In-Brief: Business Regulation & Regulated Industries.