(a) The Department's Voluntary Consumer Product Information Labeling Program makes available to consumers, at the point of sale, information on consumer product performance in an understandable and useful form so as to facilitate accurate consumer purchasing decisions and enhance consumer satisfaction. It also educates consumers, distributors and retailers in the use of the product performance information displayed and provides manufacturers and other persons who participate in the program with an opportunity to convey to the public the particular advantages of their products. These objectives are accomplished by:

(1) Selecting or developing standardized test methods by which selected product performance characteristics can be measured;

(2) Developing labeling methods by which information concerning product performance can be transmitted in useful form to consumers at the point of sale;

(3) Encouraging manufacturers and other participants in the program voluntarily to test and label their products according to the selected or developed methods; and

(4) Encouraging consumers through various informational and educational programs to utilize the product performance information provided.

(b) The program involves voluntary labeling by enrolled participants of selected categories of consumer products with information concerning selected performance characteristics of those products. The performance characteristics selected are those that are of demonstrable importance to consumers, that consumers cannot evaluate through mere inspection of the product, and that can be measured objectively and reported understandably to consumers. The consumer products covered include those for which incorrect purchase decision can result in financial loss, dissatisfaction, or inconvenience. The program seeks to avoid the duplication of other Federal programs under which performance characteristics are labeled by exempting those performance characteristics from this program. However, where the Federal agency concerned agrees, the Department of Commerce may include information about those performance characteristics in CPILP labels if, by doing so, product comparison at the point of sale is simplified for consumers, and the complexity of product labeling is reduced for the manufacturers by enabling them to comply with the labeling requirements of other Federal agencies through participation in CPILP.

(c) For selected categories of consumer products, the program includes advertising guidelines covering situations where quantitative performance values are stated in advertising or where qualitative comparisons are made of the performance of different products.