§ 260.9 Free-of claims.

(a) It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product, package, or service is free of, or does not contain or use, a substance. Such claims should be clearly and prominently qualified to the extent necessary to avoid deception. (b) A truthful claim that a product, package, or service is free of, or does not contain or use, a substance may nevertheless be deceptive if: (1) The product, package, or service contains or uses substances that pose the same or similar environmental risks as the substance that is not present; or (2) The substance has not been associated with the product category. (c) Depending on the context, a free-of or does-not-contain claim is appropriate even for a product, package, or service that contains or uses a trace amount of a substance if: (1) The level of the specified substance is no more than that which would be found as an acknowledged trace contaminant or background level 47 ; 47 “Trace contaminant” and “background level” are imprecise terms, although allowable manufacturing “trace contaminants” may be defined according to the product area concerned. What constitutes a trace amount or background level depends on the substance at issue, and requires a case-by-case analysis. (2) The substance's presence does not cause material harm that consumers typically associate with that substance; and (3) The substance has not been added intentionally to the product.