Prominence and Placement: Consumer Packages

(1) General. All information required to appear on a consumer package shall appear thereon in the English language and shall be prominent, definite, and plain, and shall be conspicuous as to size and style ofletters and numbers and as to color of letters and numbers in contrast to color of background. Any required information that is either in hand lettering or hand script shall be entirely clear and equal to printing in legibility. (a) Location. The declaration or declarations of quantity of the contents of a package shall appear in the bottom 30% of the principal display panel or panels, except as otherwise provided in 202 CMR 3.11(7) Cylindrical Containers. (b) Style of Type or Lettering. The declaration or declarations of quantity shall be in such a style of type or lettering as to be boldly, clearly, and conspicuously presented with respect to other type, lettering, or graphic material on the package, except that a declaration of net quantity blown, formed, or molded on a glass or plastic surface is permissible when all label information is blown, formed, or molded on the surface. (c) Color Contrast. The declaration or declarations of quantity shall be in a color that contrasts conspicuously with its background, except that a declaration of net quantity blown, formed, or molded on a glass or plastic surface shall not be required to be presented in a contrasting color if no required label information is on the surface in a contrasting color. (d) Free Area. The area surrounding the quantity declaration shall be free ofprinted information 1. above and below, bya space equal to at least the height of the lettering in the declaration, and 2. to the left and right, by a space equal to twice the width of the letter "N" of the style and size of type used in the declaration. (e) Parallel Quantity Declaration. The quantity declaration shall be presented in such a manner as to be generally parallel to the declaration of identity and to the base on which the package rests as it is designed to be displayed. (2) Calculation of Area of Principal Display Panel for Purposes ofType Size. The square- incharea of the principal display panel shall be (a) in the case of a rectangular container, one entire side which properly can be considered to be the principal display panel, the product of the height times the width of that side; (b) inthe case ofa cylindrical or nearly cylindrical container, 40% of the product of the height of the container times the circumference; or (c) in the case of any other shaped container, 40% of the total surface of the container, unless such container presents an obvious principal display panel (e.g., the top of a triangular or circular package of cheese, or the top of a can of shoe polish), the area shall consist of the entire such surface. Determination of the principal display panel shall exclude tops, bottoms, flanges at tops and bottoms of cans, and shoulders and necks of bottles or jars. (d) MinimumHeight ofNumbers and Letters. The height of any letter or number in the required quantity declaration shall be not less than that shown in Table 1 in 202 CMR 3.09 with respect to the square-inch area of the panel, and the height of each number of a common fraction shall meet one-half the minimum height standards. (e) Numbers and Letters: Proportion. No number or letter shall be more than three times as high as it is wide. TABLE 1. Minimum Height of Numbers and Letters Minimum height; Minimum height label information Square-inch area of of numbers blown, formed or principal display panel and letters molded on surface of container 5 square inches and less. 1/16 inch c inch Greater than 5 square inches and not greater than 25 square inches. c inch 3/16 inch Greater than 25 square inches and not greater than 100 square inches. 3/16 inch ¼ inch Greater than 100 square inches and not greater than 400 square inches. ¼ inch 5/16 inch Greater than 400 square inches. ½ inch 9/16 inch