Responsible Marketing and Communications

Our policy in advertising and marketing is to comply with all applicable laws in the country where we are communicating. We apply worldwide the practices adopted in guidelines issued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC regulates advertising in the United States, with the goal of preventing consumer deception. In cooperation with the states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the FTC has published "Guidelines for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims." These are commonly known as the FTC's "Green Guides." The Green Guides explain FTC interpretations of federal advertising law. They also influence court decisions, state regulation of advertising, Better Business Bureau responses to complaints about advertising, and challenges to "green marketing" claims.

The FTC currently is reviewing the Green Guides, and we are participating in the agency's process. Learn more about the Green Guides.

We have staff in both our corporate affairs organization and our law department with expertise on consumer protection and advertising law. We train our business marketing managers to comply with applicable laws and policies, including the Green Guides, and regularly conduct centralized reviews of selected advertising and marketing materials, especially if they involve environmental marketing claims.

In 2007, we believe we did not sell products banned in any markets. Company products were the subject of stakeholder or public debate in the case of underlying public policy issues related to forestland management, which are discussed under Grassy Narrows.

To increase our level of expertise and provide access to an alternative dispute resolution forum, we became a member of the U.S. Council of Better Business Bureaus' National Advertising Division in 2006. NAD employs advertising review attorneys with expertise in claims substantiation, advertising and trade regulation, litigation and arbitration. NAD mediates agreements to resolve advertising disputes but can issue informal rulings and refer unresolved cases to the FTC.