[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 132 (Thursday, July 10, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39390-39392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16146]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[File No. 122 3016]


L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc.; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To 
Aid Public Comment

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed Consent Agreement.

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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged 
violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid 
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint 
and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--
that would settle these allegations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 30, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file a comment at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/l'orealconsent online or on paper, by following 
the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section below. Write ``L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc.--Consent 
Agreement; File No. 122 3016'' on your comment and file your comment 
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/l'orealconsent by 
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file 
your comment on paper, mail your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania 
Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver 
your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office 
of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, 
Suite 5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Nach, Bureau of Consumer 
Protection, (202-326-2611), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20580.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 6(f) of the Federal 
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 2.34, 16 CFR 2.34, 
notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement 
containing consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with 
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been

[[Page 39391]]

placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The 
following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the 
consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic 
copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained 
from the FTC Home Page (for June 30, 2014), on the World Wide Web, at 
http://www.ftc.gov/os/actions.shtm.
    You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to 
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before July 30, 2014. 
Write ``L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 122 
3016'' on your comment. Your comment--including your name and your 
state--will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, 
including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web 
site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of 
discretion, the Commission tries to remove individuals' home contact 
information from comments before placing them on the Commission Web 
site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, 
date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification 
number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial 
account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive health information, like medical records or other 
individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not 
include any ``[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information 
which . . . is privileged or confidential,'' as discussed in Section 
6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 
4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive 
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, 
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained 
in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel, in his or her sole 
discretion, grants your request in accordance with the law and the 
public interest.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to 
heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit 
your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your 
online comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/l'orealconsent by following the instructions on the web-based form. 
If this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov/#!home, you also 
may file a comment through that Web site.
    If you file your comment on paper, write ``L'Or[eacute]al USA, 
Inc.--Consent Agreement; File No. 122 3016'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite 
CC-5610 (Annex D), Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the 
following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 
Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex 
D), Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the 
Commission by courier or overnight service.
    Visit the Commission Web site at http://www.ftc.gov to read this 
Notice and the news release describing it. The FTC Act and other laws 
that the Commission administers permit the collection of public 
comments to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. The 
Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that 
it receives on or before July 30, 2014. You can find more information, 
including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, in the 
Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment

    The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has 
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent 
order from L'Or[eacute]al USA, Inc. (``L'Or[eacute]al'').
    The proposed consent order (``proposed order'') has been placed on 
the public record for thirty (30) days for receipt of comments by 
interested persons. Comments received during this period will become 
part of the public record. After thirty (30) days, the Commission will 
again review the agreement and the comments received, and will decide 
whether it should withdraw from the agreement or make final the 
agreement's proposed order.
    This matter involves L'Or[eacute]al's advertising for its 
Lanc[ocirc]me G[eacute]nifique (``G[eacute]nifique'') and 
L'Or[eacute]al Paris Youth Code (``Youth Code'') facial skincare 
product lines. The Commission's complaint alleges that L'Or[eacute]al 
advertised that G[eacute]nifique and Youth Code provided anti-aging 
benefits by targeting users' genes, and that G[eacute]nifique provided 
results to particular percentages of users.
    The complaint alleges that the company violated Sections 5(a) and 
12 of the Federal Trade Commission Act by making unsubstantiated 
representations that G[eacute]nifique boosts the activity of genes, 
thereby resulting in visibly younger skin in seven days, and that Youth 
Code targets specific genes to make skin look younger, act younger, and 
respond five times faster to aggressors such as stress, fatigue, and 
aging. The complaint also alleges that L'Or[eacute]al violated Sections 
5(a) and 12 by making false representations that scientific studies 
prove these claims.
    The complaint further alleges that L'Or[eacute]al violated Sections 
5(a) and 12 by falsely representing that G[eacute]nifique is clinically 
proven to produce specific results for particular percentages of users, 
including perfectly luminous skin in 85% of women, astonishingly even 
skin in 82% of women, and cushiony soft skin in 91% of women, in seven 
days. These purported results were presented in a bar graph under the 
words ``clinically proven.''
    The proposed order includes injunctive relief that prohibits these 
alleged violations and fences in similar and related violations. For 
purposes of the order, ``Covered Product'' means any Lanc[ocirc]me 
brand or L'Or[eacute]al Paris brand cosmetic, excluding hair, nail, 
fragrance, mascara, and sunscreen products.
    Part I of the proposed order prohibits L'Or[eacute]al from making 
claims that any Lanc[ocirc]me brand or L'Or[eacute]al Paris brand 
facial skincare product targets or boosts the activity of genes, 
thereby resulting in skin that looks or acts younger, or skin that 
responds five times faster to aggressors, without competent and 
reliable scientific evidence for these claims. ``Competent and reliable 
scientific evidence'' is defined to mean ``evidence, consisting of 
tests, analyses, research, or studies that have been conducted and 
evaluated in an objective manner by qualified persons and are generally 
accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable results.''
    Part II of the proposed order is a fencing-in provision that 
prohibits L'Or[eacute]al from representing that any Covered Product 
affects genes. The fencing-in provision provides broader product and 
claims coverage than Part

[[Page 39392]]

I of the proposed order. It extends to products other than ``facial 
skincare products,'' such as lip products and makeup, and covers any 
gene claims.
    Part III of the proposed order prohibits L'Or[eacute]al from 
misrepresenting the existence, contents, validity, results, 
conclusions, or interpretations of any test, study, or research in 
connection with the manufacturing, labeling, advertising, promotion, 
offering for sale, and sale or distribution of any Covered Product.
    Part IV contains recordkeeping requirements for advertisements and 
substantiation relevant to representations covered by Parts I through 
III of the order.
    Parts V through VII of the proposed order require L'Or[eacute]al 
to: Deliver a copy of the order to principals, officers, and employees 
having responsibilities with respect to the subject matter of the 
order; notify the Commission of changes in corporate structure that 
might affect compliance obligations under the order; and file 
compliance reports with the Commission.
    Part VIII provides that the order will terminate after twenty (20) 
years, with certain exceptions.
    The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the 
proposed order, and it is not intended to constitute an official 
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify the 
proposed order's terms in any way.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-16146 Filed 7-9-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P