[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 6, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 462-464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-29273]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

21 CFR Part 101

[Docket No. FDA-2000-N-0011]


Uniform Compliance Date for Food Labeling Regulations

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, Department of Helath and Human 
Services (HHS).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is establishing 
January 1, 2024, as the uniform compliance date for food labeling 
regulations that are published on or after January 1, 2021, and on or 
before December 31, 2022. We periodically announce uniform compliance 
dates for new food labeling requirements to minimize the economic 
impact of labeling changes.

DATES: This rule is effective January 6, 2021. Submit either electronic 
or written comments on the final rule by March 8, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments as follows:

Electronic Submissions

    Submit electronic comments in the following way:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted 
electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov 
will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be 
made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment 
does not include any confidential information that you or a third party 
may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone 
else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, 
such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your 
name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in 
the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
     If you want to submit a comment with confidential 
information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, 
submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner 
detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').

Written/Paper Submissions

    Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper 
submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug 
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
     For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets 
Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any 
attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, 
as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. 
FDA-2000-N-0011 for ``Uniform Compliance Date for Food Labeling 
Regulations.'' Received comments, those filed in a timely manner, will 
be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as 
``Confidential Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. 
and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.
     Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with 
confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly 
available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You 
should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information 
you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states 
``THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' We will review 
this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in our 
consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed 
confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for 
public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both 
copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name 
and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide 
this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your 
comments, and you must identify this information as ``confidential.'' 
Any information marked as ``confidential'' will not be disclosed except 
in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. 
For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, 
see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: 
https://

[[Page 463]]

www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in 
the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the 
prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, 
Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrol Bascus, Center for Food Safety 
and Applied Nutrition (HFS-24), Food and Drug Administration, 5001 
Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, 240-402-3835.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We periodically issue regulations requiring 
changes in the labeling of food. If the compliance dates of these 
labeling changes were not coordinated, the cumulative economic impact 
on the food industry of having to respond separately to each change 
would be substantial. Therefore, we periodically have announced uniform 
compliance dates for new food labeling requirements (see e.g., the 
Federal Register of October 19, 1984 (49 FR 41019); December 24, 1996 
(61 FR 67710); December 27, 1996 (61 FR 68145); December 23, 1998 (63 
FR 71015); November 20, 2000 (65 FR 69666); December 31, 2002 (67 FR 
79851); December 21, 2006 (71 FR 76599); December 8, 2008 (73 FR 
74349); December 15, 2010 (75 FR 78155); November 28, 2012 (77 FR 
70885); December 10, 2014 (79 FR 73201); November 25, 2016 (81 FR 
85156); and December 20, 2018 (83 FR 65294)). Use of a uniform 
compliance date provides for an orderly and economical industry 
adjustment to new labeling requirements by allowing sufficient lead 
time to plan for the use of existing label inventories and the 
development of new labeling materials.
    We have determined under 21 CFR 25.30(k) that this action is of a 
type that does not individually or cumulatively have a significant 
effect on the human environment. Therefore, neither an environmental 
assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required.
    This final rule contains no collections of information. Therefore, 
clearance by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 is not required.
    We have examined the impacts of the final rule under Executive 
Order 12866, Executive Order 13563, Executive Order 13771, the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612), and the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). Executive Orders 12866 and 
13563 direct us to assess all costs and benefits of available 
regulatory alternatives and, when regulation is necessary, to select 
regulatory approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential 
economic, environmental, public health and safety, and other 
advantages; distributive impacts; and equity). Executive Order 13771 
requires that the costs associated with significant new regulations 
``shall, to the extent permitted by law, be offset by the elimination 
of existing costs associated with at least two prior regulations.'' We 
believe that this final rule is not a significant regulatory action as 
defined by Executive Order 12866.
    The establishment of a uniform compliance date does not in itself 
lead to costs or benefits. We will assess the costs and benefits of the 
uniform compliance date in the regulatory impact analyses of the 
labeling rules that take effect at that date.
    The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires us to analyze regulatory 
options that would minimize any significant impact of a rule on small 
entities. Because the final rule does not impose compliance costs on 
small entities, we certify that the final rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (section 202(a)) requires 
us to prepare a written statement, which includes an assessment of 
anticipated costs and benefits, before issuing ``any rule that includes 
any Federal mandate that may result in the expenditure by State, local, 
and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of 
$100,000,000 or more (adjusted annually for inflation) in any one 
year.'' The current threshold after adjustment for inflation is $156 
million, using the most current (2019) Implicit Price Deflator for the 
Gross Domestic Product. This final rule would not result in an 
expenditure in any year that meets or exceeds this amount.
    We have analyzed this final rule in accordance with the principles 
set forth in Executive Order 13132. We have determined that the rule 
does not contain policies that have substantial direct effects on the 
States, on the relationship between the National Government and the 
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government. Accordingly, we have concluded that the 
rule does not contain policies that have federalism implications as 
defined in the Executive Order and, consequently, a federalism summary 
impact statement is not required.
    This action is not intended to change existing requirements for 
compliance dates contained in final rules published before January 1, 
2021. Therefore, all final rules published by FDA in the Federal 
Register before January 1, 2021, will still go into effect on the date 
stated in the respective final rule. We generally encourage industry to 
comply with new labeling regulations as quickly as feasible, however. 
Thus, when industry members voluntarily change their labels, it is 
appropriate that they incorporate any new requirements that have been 
published as final regulations up to that time.
    In rulemaking that began with publication of a proposed rule on 
April 15, 1996 (61 FR 16422), and ended with a final rule on December 
24, 1996 (61 FR 67710) (together ``the 1996 rulemaking''), we provided 
notice and an opportunity for comment on the practice of establishing 
uniform compliance dates by issuance of a final rule announcing the 
date. We received no comments objecting to this practice during the 
1996 rulemaking, nor have we received comments objecting to this 
practice since we published a uniform compliance date final rule on 
December 20, 2018. Therefore, we find good cause to dispense with 
issuance of a proposed rule inviting comment on the practice of 
establishing the uniform compliance date because such prior notice and 
comment are unnecessary. Interested parties will have an opportunity to 
comment on the compliance date for each individual food labeling 
regulation as part of the rulemaking process for that regulation. 
Consequently, FDA finds any further advance notice and opportunity for 
comment unnecessary for establishment of the uniform compliance date. 
Nonetheless, under 21 CFR 10.40(e)(1), we are providing an opportunity 
for comment on whether the uniform compliance date established by this 
final rule should be modified or revoked.
    In addition, we find good cause for this final rule to become 
effective on the date of publication of this action. A delayed 
effective date is unnecessary in this case because the establishment of 
a uniform compliance date does not impose any new regulatory 
requirements on affected parties. Instead, this final rule provides 
affected parties with notice of our policy to identify January 1, 2024, 
as the compliance date for final food labeling regulations that require 
changes in the labeling of food products and that publish on or after 
January 1, 2021, and on or before December 31, 2022, unless

[[Page 464]]

special circumstances justify a different compliance date. Thus, 
affected parties do not need time to prepare before the rule takes 
effect. Therefore, we find good cause for this final rule to become 
effective on the date of publication of this action.
    The new uniform compliance date will apply only to final FDA food 
labeling regulations that require changes in the labeling of food 
products and that publish on or after January 1, 2021, and on or before 
December 31, 2022. Those regulations will specifically identify January 
1, 2024, as their compliance date. All food products subject to the 
January 1, 2024, compliance date must comply with the appropriate 
regulations when initially introduced into interstate commerce on or 
after January 1, 2024. If any food labeling regulation involves special 
circumstances that justify a compliance date other than January 1, 
2024, we will determine for that regulation an appropriate compliance 
date, which will be specified when the final regulation is published.

    Dated: December 29, 2020.
Stephen M. Hahn,
Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
    Dated: December 30, 2020.
Alex M. Azar II,
Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-29273 Filed 12-31-20; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4164-01-P