CFR > Title 29 - Labor > SUBTITLE B—Regulations Relating to Labor > CHAPTER V—WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (parts 500 to 871) > SUBCHAPTER B—STATEMENTS OF GENERAL POLICY OR INTERPRETATION NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO REGULATIONS (parts 775 to 794) > PART 789—GENERAL STATEMENT ON THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 12(a) AND SECTION 15(a)(1) OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT OF 1938, RELATING TO WRITTEN ASSURANCES > 789.3—“* * * goods were produced in compliance with” * * * the requirements referred to.

789.3—“* * * goods were produced in compliance with” * * * the requirements referred to.

It is apparent from the language of the statute and the statement appended to the Conference Report 5 that the written assurance referred to is one with respect to specific goods in being, assuring the purchaser that the “goods in question were produced in compliance” with the requirements referred to in sections 12(a) and 15(a) (1). A written statement made prior to production of the particular goods is not the type of assurance contemplated by the statute.

Code of Federal Regulations

Footnote(s): 5 H. Rept. No. 1453, 81st Cong., 1st sess., p. 31.
A so-called “general and continuing” assurance or “blanket guarantee” stating, for instance, that all goods to be shipped to the purchaser during a twelve-month period following a certain date “will be or were produced” in compliance with applicable provisions of the Act would not afford the purchaser the statutory protection with respect to any production of such goods after the assurance is given. This type of assurance attempts to assure the purchaser concerning the future production of goods. With respect to any production of goods after the assurance is given, this “general and continuing” assurance would, at most, be an assurance that the goods will be produced in compliance with the Act.

Code of Federal Regulations

The definitions of the terms “goods” and “produced” in sections 3(i) and 3(j) of the Act 6 respectively, should be considered in interpreting the requirement that the written assurance must relate to goods which were produced in compliance with applicable provisions of the Act. These definitions make it apparent, for instance that the raw materials from which a machine has been made retain their identity as “goods” even though these raw materials have been converted into an entirely different finished product in which the raw materials are merely a part.

Code of Federal Regulations

Footnote(s): 6 Section 3(i) defines “goods” to mean “goods (including ships and marine equipment), wares, products, commodities, merchandise, or articles or subjects of commerce of any character, or any part or ingredient thereof, but does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturer, or processor thereof.” Section 3(j) defines “produced” to mean “produced, manufactured, mined, handled, or in any other manner worked on in any state; and for the purposes of this Act an employee shall be deemed to have been engaged in the production of goods if such employee was employed in producing, manufacturing, mining, handling, transporting, or in any other manner working on such goods, or in any closely related process or occupation directly essential to the production thereof, in any State.”

Code of Federal Regulations

Since “goods,” as defined in the Act, “does not include goods after their delivery into the actual physical possession of the ultimate consumer thereof other than a producer, manufacturing, or processor thereof,” the “hot goods” restrictions of section 12(a) and section 15(a)(1) do not apply to such ultimate consumers. There appears to be no need, therefore, for such consumers to secure these written assurances from their suppliers.