I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5097 

To require greater notification to the public regarding product recalls, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 14, 2019 

Ms. MENG (for herself, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 

TLAIB, Mr. CISNEROS, and Ms. ESCOBAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require greater notification to the public regarding 

product recalls, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Total Recall Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The safety of the consumers in the United 

8 States relies on the effectiveness of a company’s out9 reach. 


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1 (2) There are at least 400 products recalled 

2 each year by the Consumer Product Safety Commis3 sion. 

4 (3) According to the Consumer Product Safety 

5 Commission, the average response rate of consumers 

6 for most product recalls is between 4 and 18 per7 cent. 

8 SEC. 3. INCREASED NOTIFICATION ABOUT RECALLS BY 

9 COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN RECALLS. 

10 (a) MANDATING PUBLIC NOTICE AND INCLUDING

11 IMPORTERS.—Section 15(d)(1) of the Consumer Product 

12 Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)(1)) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking ‘‘may order’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘shall order’’; 

15 (2) by striking ‘‘any distributor’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘any distributor, importer,’’; and 

17 (3) by striking ‘‘by subsection (c) and’’ and in18 serting the following: ‘‘by subsection (c), and may 

19 order the manufacturer or any distributor, importer, 

20 or retailer of such product’’. 

21 (b) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

22 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 15(d) of such 

23 Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) is further amended— 

24 (A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

25 paragraph (4); 


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1 (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

2 following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(3) The Commission may not approve an action plan 

4 submitted pursuant to paragraph (2) unless such action 

5 plan provides that the person submitting the action plan 

6 has performed or will perform the following: 

7 ‘‘(A) Not later than the expiration of the 365- 

8 day period starting on the date the Commission ap9 proves the action plan, spending on advertising the 

10 recall of the product subject to the order, using 

11 methods including those determined by the Commis12 sion for conducting recalls, an amount equal to the 

13 greater of— 

14 ‘‘(i)(I) at least 25 percent of the dollar 

15 amount spent by such person in the 12-month 

16 period during which such person spent the 

17 greatest amount on traditional marketing (not 

18 including marketing through the Internet) of 

19 the product; plus 

20 ‘‘(II) at least the total dollar amount spent 

21 by such person marketing the product through 

22 the Internet; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) if the product was part of a product 

24 bundle, at least 5 percent of the dollar amount 

25 spent by such person marketing the subscripVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5097.IH H5097

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1 tion service under which the product bundle was 

2 sold. 

3 ‘‘(B) Submitting to the Commission such evi4 dence the Commission determines adequate to show 

5 that such person has complied with the requirements 

6 in subparagraph (A). 

7 ‘‘(C) Posting in a clear and conspicuous man8 ner the notice required by paragraph (1) on any 

9 Internet website maintained by such person until the 

10 participation rate in the recall that is the subject of 

11 the notice is at least 95 percent. 

12 ‘‘(D) Posting to each social media account 

13 maintained by such person the notice required by 

14 paragraph (1), or a description of such notice and 

15 a link to such notice, at least 5 times each calendar 

16 month for the 12 months after the Commission has 

17 approved the action plan.’’; and 

18 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

19 paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(5) In this subsection, the term ‘product bundle’ 

21 means a single product comprised of two or more products 

22 that is sold to consumers under a subscription service that 

23 does not permit the consumer to select every product com24 prising the single product.’’. 


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1 (2) TOLLING OF EXPENDITURES.—Paragraph 

2 (4) of section 15(d) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) 

3 (as redesignated by section 3(b)(1)(A) of this Act) 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

5 subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(D) If the Commission revokes its approval of the 

7 action plan, the running of the 365-day period in para8 graph (3)(A) shall be tolled. If the Commission approves 

9 an alternative action plan to the action plan for which ap10 proval was revoked, the time period for completing the ex11 penditures as required by paragraph (3)(A) for such alter12 native action plan shall not exceed the number of days 

13 that did not elapse under such 365-day period.’’. 

14 (c) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS APPLY TO SET15 TLEMENT OFFERS.—Section 15(f) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 

16 2064(f)) is amended— 

17 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘Any settlement’’ and in19 serting ‘‘Subject to paragraph (2), any settle20 ment’’; and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘unless the settlement 

22 offer is clearly frivolous or duplicative of offers 

23 previously made’’; 

24 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para25 graph (4); and 


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1 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol2 lowing new paragraphs: 

3 ‘‘(2) A settlement offer described in paragraph (1) 

4 may not be transmitted if such offer— 

5 ‘‘(A) is clearly frivolous; 

6 ‘‘(B) is duplicative of offers previously made; or 

7 ‘‘(C) does not obligate the manufacturer, dis8 tributor, importer, or retailer that is a party to such 

9 offer to perform the actions in subparagraphs (A) 

10 and (B) of subsection (k)(1). 

11 ‘‘(3) At the outset of a hearing under this subsection, 

12 the Commission shall recommend that a manufacturer, 

13 distributor, importer, or retailer that is or becomes a party 

14 to a settlement offer perform the actions described in sub15 section (d)(3)(A).’’. 

16 (d) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION NOTIFICA17 TION.—Section 15 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064) is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(k) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS.—Any voluntary correc22 tive action taken by a manufacturer, distributor, im23 porter, or retailer in consultation with the Commis24 sion relating to a product described in subsection (b) 

25 may be determined by the Commission as a suffiVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:34 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5097.IH H5097

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1 cient remedial measure only if, as part of such vol2 untary corrective action— 

3 ‘‘(A) such manufacturer, distributor, im4 porter, or retailer provides the notice required 

5 by subsection (c); and 

6 ‘‘(B) such notice is posted in the manner 

7 required by subparagraphs (C) and (D) of sub8 section (d)(3). 

9 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—When a manufac10 turer, distributor, importer, or retailer informs the 

11 Commission that it will take voluntary corrective ac12 tion in consultation with the Commission, the Com13 mission shall recommend that such manufacturer, 

14 distributor, importer, or retailer perform the actions 

15 described in subsection (d)(3)(A) as part of the vol16 untary corrective action.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 

18 (a) ACTION PLANS AND SETTLEMENT OFFERS.— 

19 The amendments made by subsections (a) through (c) of 

20 section 2 shall only apply to action plans and settlement 

21 offers resulting from hearings under 15(d) of the Con22 sumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) initiated 

23 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

24 (b) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION.—The amend25 ments made by section 2(d) shall only apply to voluntary 


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1 corrective actions about which the Consumer Product 

2 Safety Commission is initially informed on or after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 5. RECALL PARTICIPATION RATES REPORTED TO 

5 CONGRESS. 

6 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Section 27(j) of the 

7 Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2076(j)) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

10 inserting after ‘‘and the Congress’’ the following: ‘‘, 

11 and shall make publicly available on its website,’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (12)(F), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

13 the end; 

14 (3) by redesignating paragraph (13) as para15 graph (14); and 

16 (4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol17 lowing new paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(13) for each recall initiated or ongoing during 

19 the reporting period that is pursuant to an order 

20 under section 15(d), a settlement agreement, or a 

21 voluntary corrective action taken in consultation 

22 with the Commission— 

23 ‘‘(A) the number of products subject to the 

24 recall sold; 


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1 ‘‘(B) the number of such products for 

2 which a consumer has received a remedy; 

3 ‘‘(C) the number of consumers to whom a 

4 direct notification has been made; and 

5 ‘‘(D) the number of incidences of injuries 

6 resulting from a product subject to the recall 

7 occurring after the initiation of the recall that 

8 are reported to the Commission; and’’. 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall apply on the first day of the first fiscal 

11 year which begins after the date of the enactment of this 

12 Act. 

13 SEC. 6. DIRECT NOTIFICATION DEFINED. 

14 Section 3(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 

15 U.S.C. 2052(a)) is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through 

17 (17) as paragraphs (8) through (18), respectively; 

18 and 

19 (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol20 lowing new paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(7) DIRECT NOTIFICATION.—The term ‘direct 

22 notification’ means notification by phone, email, or 

23 mail.’’. 

Æ 


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