I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1730 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit mobile service providers from providing service on mobile devices that have been reported 

stolen, to require such providers to give consumers the ability to remotely 

delete data from mobile devices, to prohibit the alteration or removal 

of mobile device identification numbers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 25, 2013 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself and Ms. NORTON) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit mobile service providers from providing service on mobile 

devices that have been reported stolen, to require such 

providers to give consumers the ability to remotely delete 

data from mobile devices, to prohibit the alteration or 

removal of mobile device identification numbers, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cell Phone Theft Pre5 vention Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MOBILE DEVICE THEFT PREVENTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title III of the Commu3 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 343. MOBILE DEVICE THEFT PREVENTION. 

6 ‘‘(a) PROVISION OF SERVICE ON STOLEN DEVICE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—A provider of commercial 

8 mobile service or commercial mobile data service 

9 may not provide service on a mobile device that has 

10 been reported to such provider as stolen— 

11 ‘‘(A) by the person who holds the account 

12 with respect to such service; or 

13 ‘‘(B) by another provider of commercial 

14 mobile service or commercial mobile data serv15 ice, in accordance with paragraph (2). 

16 ‘‘(2) REPORTING BY SERVICE PROVIDERS.—A 

17 provider of commercial mobile service or commercial 

18 mobile data service to which a mobile device is re19 ported stolen as described in paragraph (1)(A) shall 

20 inform all other providers of such service— 

21 ‘‘(A) that such device has been reported 

22 stolen; and 

23 ‘‘(B) of any information necessary for the 

24 identification of such device. 

25 ‘‘(b) REMOTE DELETION OF DATA.—A provider of 

26 commercial mobile service or commercial mobile data servVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:54 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1730.IH H1730

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1 ice on a mobile device shall make available to the person 

2 who holds the account with respect to such service the ca3 pability of deleting from such device, from a remote loca4 tion, all information that was placed on such device after 

5 its manufacture. 

6 ‘‘(c) DEVICE STANDARDS.—A person may not manu7 facture in the United States or import into the United 

8 States for sale or resale to the public a mobile device un9 less such device is— 

10 ‘‘(1) equipped with a mobile device identifica11 tion number; and 

12 ‘‘(2) configured in such a manner that the pro13 vider of commercial mobile service or commercial 

14 mobile data service on the device is able to make 

15 available the remote deletion capability required by 

16 subsection (b). 

17 ‘‘(d) ALTERATION OR REMOVAL OF MOBILE DEVICE

18 IDENTIFICATION NUMBER.— 

19 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful to— 

20 ‘‘(A) knowingly remove, obliterate, tamper 

21 with, or alter a mobile device identification 

22 number; or 

23 ‘‘(B) knowingly use, produce, traffic in, 

24 have control or custody of, or possess hardware 

25 or software, knowing it has been configured to 


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1 engage in the conduct described in subpara2 graph (A). 

3 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—Any person who violates para4 graph (1) shall be fined under title 18, United 

5 States Code, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or 

6 both. 

7 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) COMMERCIAL MOBILE DATA SERVICE.— 

9 The term ‘commercial mobile data service’ has the 

10 meaning given such term in section 6001 of the Mid11 dle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 

12 (47 U.S.C. 1401). 

13 ‘‘(2) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE.—The term 

14 ‘commercial mobile service’ has the meaning given 

15 such term in section 332. 

16 ‘‘(3) MOBILE DEVICE.—The term ‘mobile de17 vice’ means a personal electronic device on which 

18 commercial mobile service or commercial mobile data 

19 service is provided. 

20 ‘‘(4) MOBILE DEVICE IDENTIFICATION NUM21 BER.—The term ‘mobile device identification num22 ber’ means an international mobile equipment iden23 tity number, electronic serial number, or any other 

24 number or signal that identifies a specific mobile de25 vice.’’. 


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1 (b) REPORT TO FCC.—Not later than 1 year after 

2 the date of the enactment of this Act, each provider of 

3 commercial mobile service or commercial mobile data serv4 ice that provides such service on a mobile device shall sub5 mit to the Federal Communications Commission a report 

6 on— 

7 (1) the efforts such provider is making in order 

8 to be prepared to comply, not later than the effective 

9 date described in subsection (c)(1), with the require10 ments of subsections (a) and (b) of section 343 of 

11 the Communications Act of 1934, as added by sub12 section (a) of this section; and 

13 (2) the progress of such provider toward being 

14 prepared to comply with such requirements by such 

15 date. 

16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Such section 343 shall take 

18 effect on the date that is 2 years after the date of 

19 the enactment of this Act. 

20 (2) DEVICES PREVIOUSLY MANUFACTURED OR

21 IMPORTED.—In the case of a mobile device that was 

22 manufactured in the United States (or imported into 

23 the United States, if such device was manufactured 

24 outside the United States) before the date that is 2 

25 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, a 


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1 provider of commercial mobile service or commercial 

2 mobile data service shall only be required to comply 

3 with subsections (a) and (b) of such section to the 

4 extent technologically feasible. 

5 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, a term that is de6 fined in such section 343 shall have the meaning given 

7 such term in such section. 

Æ 


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