16 CFR § 500.17 - Fractions.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t16/s500.17"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "16 CFR § 500.17 - Fractions."
title_number: 16
title_name: "Commercial Practices"
section_number: "500.17"
section_name: "Fractions."
chapter_name: "FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION"
subchapter_number: "E"
subchapter_name: "RULES, REGULATIONS, STATEMENT OF GENERAL POLICY OR INTERPRETATION AND EXEMPTIONS UNDER THE FAIR PACKAGING AND LABELING ACT"
part_number: "500"
part_name: "REGULATIONS UNDER SECTION 4 OF THE FAIR PACKAGING AND LABELING ACT"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "15 U.S.C. 1453, 1454, 1455."
regulatory_source: "59 FR 1872, Jan. 12, 1994, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "500"
---


# 500.17 Fractions.

(a) SI metric declarations of net quantity of contents of any consumer commodity may contain only decimal fractions. Other declarations of net quantity of contents may contain common or decimal fractions. A common fraction shall be in terms of halves, quarters, eighths, sixteenths, or thirty-seconds; except that:

(1) If there exists a firmly established general consumer usage and trade custom of employing different common fractions in the net quantity declaration of a particular commodity, they may be employed, and

(2) If linear measurements are required in terms of yards or feet, common fractions may be in terms of thirds. A common fraction shall be reduced to its lowest terms; a decimal fraction shall not be carried out to more than three places.

(b) If a statement includes small fractions, smaller variations in the actual size or weight of the commodity will be permitted as provided in § 500.25, than in cases where the larger fractions or whole numbers are used.