FOR YOUR INFORMATION..........................DECEMBER 7, 1993
GASOLINE PUMP MANUFACTURER AND INDEPENDENT GAS RETAILERS
GRANTED LIMITED EXEMPTION FROM
FTC OCTANE LABELING REQUIREMENTS
The Federal Trade Commission has granted the petition of
Bennett Pump Company, of Muskegon, Michigan, on behalf of Wesco
Oil and other independent gasoline retailers, for a partial
exemption from the label requirements of the FTC's Fuel Ratings
Rule to accommodate a new gas pump design.
The Fuel Ratings Rule establishes procedures for deter-
mining, certifying and posting the octane or another key rating
of automotive fuels for sale to consumers. The rule requires
retailers to disclose the octane rating of their gasoline by
posting a label on each gas pump, and specifies the size and
contents of the label, as well as the style of type to be used.
An octane rating is a measure of a gasoline's ability to resist
automotive engine "knock" or "ping" resulting from an uneven
burning of the compressed fuel-air mixture. The disclosure
requirements of the Fuel Ratings Rule are intended to help con-
sumers choose the gasolines which are properly suited to their
vehicles. (Effective Oct. 25, the FTC's Octane Rule was renamed
the "Fuel Ratings Rule," and now covers alternative liquid auto-
motive fuels including, among others, methanol and ethanol.)
According to Bennett's petition, it manufactures gasoline
pumps which it sells, through independent distributors, to
independently-owned service stations who, in turn, sell gasoline
either under one of the major oil brands or under an independent
brand. Bennett has developed a line of gasoline pumps that have
only one hose and nozzle that may dispense up to four grades of
gasoline. These new pumps have a unified display on the face of
the pump. The display includes a single gauge to show the run-
ning dollar amount and volume of gasoline pumped. Below the
gauge is a horizontal line of selector switches, with the price
per gallon displayed directly above each switch. To operate this
- more -
Bennett Pump Company--12/07/93)
type of pump, the consumer simply turns on the single pump handle
and selects the grade switch. This arrangement, however, makes
it difficult to place the octane label as near as practical to
the price-per-gallon display as required by the rule, Bennett
maintained.
Bennett resolved the placement problem by placing the octane
label in the grade selector switch. The standardized selector
switch, however, is smaller than the size of the octane label
specified by the rule. Therefore, Bennett sought an exemption
from the rule to allow a smaller octane label.
The Commission has determined that the smaller label meets
the intent of the rule by disclosing all required information in
a space as close to the price-per-gallon display as is reasonably
practical. In addition, by placing the octane label in the grade
selector switch, the pump's design helps to ensure that consumers
are aware of which product they are buying because they must, in
effect, push the octane label to activate the pump, the Commis-
sion said. For these reasons, the Commission has granted the
requested exemption, provided that in all other respects, gaso-
line retailers comply with the rule's labeling requirements.
The Commission vote to grant the exemption was 5-0. A
notice regarding the exemption appears in today's Federal Regis-
ter. Copies of the notice and of the Commission's letter to
Bennett are available from the FTC's Public Reference Branch,
Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington,
D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 202-326-
2502.
# # #
MEDIA CONTACT: Bonnie Jansen, Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2161
STAFF CONTACT: Thomas D. Massie, Division of Enforcement
202-326-2982
(FTC File No. R811005)
(Bennett)