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 conducted a series of workshops in 2008, including one on "green" packaging, during which Weyerhaeuser participated in the panel discussion. 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 2008, we believe we did not sell products banned in any markets. Some 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. We also helped form and co-chaired a roundtable on green marketing conducted by the Keystone Center. The roundtable is expected to continue in 2009.