New York State

GNC Holdings Inc. reached an agreement with the New York attorney general on its Herbal Plus products, pledging to more stringently test its supplements and follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration manufacturing recommendations. In response to state inquiries, GNC has conducted "rigorous tests" to show that its products are safe and properly labeled, according to a statement Monday. GNC also will begin performing DNA barcoding on products — a method of confirming that supplements have the right ingredients — and add signage to help consumers figure out what they're buying.

The New York State attorney general's office accused four major retailers on Monday of selling fraudulent and potentially dangerous herbal supplements and demanded that they remove the products from their shelves. The authorities said they conducted tests on top-selling store brands of herbal supplements at four national retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart — and found that four out of five of the products did not contain any of the herbs on their labels. 

New York might have failed in its efforts to tax sugary sodas, but that didn't keep retail giant Wal-Mart from trying to tax it anyway. This week, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that the state reached a settlement with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. over false advertising claims. The settlement followed an investigation into claims that Wal-Mart advertised a sale on Coca-Cola soft drinks but actually charged customers across New York State more than the advertised sale price.

New York’s new nexus-expanding affiliate marketing law has generated considerable confusion and anxiety in the direct marketing industry. The legislation was signed into law on April 15, and now the second shoe has dropped in the form of a technical services bulletin (TSB) issued by the New York Department of Taxation and Finance on May 8 — TSB-M-08(3)S. The TSB purports to explain the new law and resolve some of the uncertainties arising from its vague statutory language. The good news is the TSB actually narrows the scope of the new law in certain important respects. It may provide comfort to catalog companies