§486-119  Hawaii-made products; Hawaii-processed products.  (a)  No person shall keep, offer, display or expose for sale, or solicit for the sale of any item, product, souvenir, or any other merchandise that is labeled "made in Hawaii" or that by any other means misrepresents the origin of the item as being from any place within the State, or uses the phrase "made in Hawaii" as an advertising or media tool for any craft item that has not been manufactured, assembled, fabricated, or produced within the State and that has not had at least fifty-one per cent of its wholesale value added by manufacture, assembly, fabrication, or production within the State.

     (b)  Subsection (a) notwithstanding, no person shall keep, offer, display, expose for sale, or solicit the sale of any perishable consumer commodity that is labeled "made in Hawaii", "produced in Hawaii", or "processed in Hawaii" or that by any other means represents the origin of the perishable consumer commodity as being from any place within the State, or use the phrase "made in Hawaii", "produced in Hawaii", or "processed in Hawaii" as an advertising or media tool for any perishable consumer commodity, unless the perishable consumer commodity is wholly or partially manufactured, processed, or produced within the State from raw materials that originate from inside or outside the State and at least fifty-one per cent of the wholesale value of the perishable consumer commodity is added by manufacture, processing, or production within the State. [L 1991, c 153, pt of §6; am L 2009, c 80, §2]

Case Notes

  Where plaintiff claimed that defendant, a snack food manufacturer, violated this section by misrepresenting through deceptive advertising and labeling that its Hawaiian brand snacks originated from Hawaii, the court found that plaintiff did not have a private cause of action under this section, and the absence of a provision authorizing a private right of action suggested that the legislature did not contemplate one.  Rather, the express provisions of chapter 486 limit causes of action to the board of agriculture.  390 F. Supp. 3d 1231 (2019).