What the label must carry
Updated
On this page6
Candle labeling splits cleanly into a very short mandatory list and a voluntary standard that everybody follows.
One mandatory statement
If the candle uses a metal-cored wick, the outer container or wrapper must be labeled "Conforms to 16 CFR 1500.17(a)(13)".
That is the ban on lead-cored wicks, in force since October 15, 2003: metal cores must contain not more than 0.06 percent lead by weight of the metal, and candles made with non-compliant wicks are banned outright.
If your wicks have no metal core, the statement does not apply to you. Knowing which you have is the first question to ask your wick supplier.
The consumer commodity requirements
A candle is a consumer commodity under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, which means the label carries an identity, a net quantity of contents and the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer or distributor.
The net quantity is a net weight of wax, not the volume of the vessel, and it is established by weighing rather than by reading a jar specification.
ASTM F2058, voluntary and expected
The fire safety labeling standard: a safety alert symbol, the word WARNING in bold uppercase, and three fire safety statements.
"Burn within sight" must appear as text; the other two may be pictograms.
It is not law. It is what a retailer expects, what an insurer will ask about and what a court would read as the ordinary standard of care, which makes it binding in practice.
Where each goes
Identity and net quantity on the principal display panel.
Safety statements conventionally on the base, which keeps the front for the brand and puts the warning where a customer sees it when they pick the candle up.
Below the fill line, always, so nothing combustible sits against the melt pool.
What forces a reprint
A change of vessel, which changes the net weight and usually the label size.
A change of wick to or from a metal core, which adds or removes the mandatory statement.
A move to or from a co-packer, which may change the responsible firm.
And an address change, which is the ordinary one that catches everybody.