The Federal Trade Commission's Trade Regulation Rule Concerning the Labeling and Advertising of Home Insulation (or Rule) became effective on September 29, 1980. The Rule is designed to assist consumers in evaluating and comparing the thermal performance characteristics of competing home insulation products by specifically requiring manufacturers of home insulation products to provide information about the product's degree of resistance to the flow of heat (R-Value). The Rule also establishes uniform standards for testing, information disclosure, and substantiation of product performance claims.

As part of the systematic review of its rules and guides, the Commission requested comments on April 6, 2016, on, among other things, the economic impact of and the continuing need for this rule; possible conflicts between the Rule and State, local, and other Federal laws; and the effect on the Rule of any technological, economic, or other industry changes. 81 FR 19936. The extended comment period closed on September 6, 2016. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published on January 22, 2018 (83 FR 2934). Based on comments received, the Commission proposed amendments that would exempt space-constrained ads from required energy savings claims disclosures, clarify that commercial products sold for residential use are subject to the Rule, require R-value claims for non-insulation products to be substantiated by the Rule’s ASTM standards (commonly used tests for measuring R-value), update the Rule’s references to ASTM test procedures and revise Rule provisions for updating those tests, add information to fact sheets about the importance of air sealing and proper insulation installation, and direct online retailers to post labels and fact sheets for covered insulation products sold directly to consumers. The NPRM’s comment period closed on March 23, 2018. Staff anticipates next action by October 2018.