The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have announced that Williams-Sonoma Inc. will be paying over $3 million in civil penalties for falsely marketing imported goods as "Made in the USA." The settlement also requires Williams-Sonoma to cease making misleading claims about the origins of its products.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton stated, "The Justice Department will vigorously enforce laws to stop deceptive advertisers from making misleading and fraudulent claims to sell products." This comes in response to Williams-Sonoma violating an FTC administrative order by advertising products as "Made in the USA" when they contained significant imported content, with at least one product being made in China.
FTC Chair Lina M. Khan expressed that "Williams-Sonoma misled consumers by touting products as made in the USA when at least one of them was made in China." Khan emphasized that such deception harms honest American businesses. The settlement includes a record-setting civil penalty of $3,175,387 and prohibits Williams-Sonoma from making misleading country-of-origin claims in the future.
The enforcement efforts were led by Trial Attorney Mary M. Englehart, Assistant Director Zachary Dietert from the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, Assistant U.S. Attorney David DeVito for the Northern District of California, and Julia Ensor from the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The stipulated order not only requires the payment of the civil penalty but also mandates that Williams-Sonoma adhere to strict recordkeeping and reporting obligations to ensure compliance with the regulations moving forward. The Justice Department and FTC have made it clear that firms engaging in misleading 'Made in the USA' claims will face consequences.
For more information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement efforts, visit www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch. For more information about the FTC, visit www.FTC.gov.