Washington ¨C The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Friday said tractor-maker Kubota North America will pay a $2 million civil penalty for falsely labeling some of its replacement parts as being ¡°Made in USA.¡±
In addition to the penalty, Kubota will be prohibited from making deceptive claims, according to a court order filed by the U.S. Justice Department on the FTC¡¯s behalf, it said.
¡°Today¡¯s settlement includes the largest civil penalty assessed for violating the Made in USA Labeling Rule,¡± Samuel Levine, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
According to the complaint, ¡°Kubota has labeled thousands of replacement parts for its tractors and other agricultural equipment as Made In USA, even though they were made entirely overseas.¡±
The company also moved manufacturing for some parts from the United States to other countries but did not update the products¡¯ labeling to reflect that change, the FTC said.
As part of the agreement, Kubota will be prohibited from making U.S.-origin claims for any product, unless it can show that the product¡¯s final assembly or processing takes place in the United States.
Kubota must also make a clear disclosure about the extent to which any product contains foreign parts, the FTC said.
Kubota North America is a unit of the Osaka, Japan-based Kubota agricultural machinery manufacturer.
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