IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2474 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 15, 2007 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To provide for an increased maximum civil penalty for 

violations under the Consumer Product Safety Act. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Product Safety Civil 

3 Penalties Improvement Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. MAXIMUM CIVIL PENALTIES OF THE CONSUMER 

5 PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION. 

6 (a) INITIAL INCREASE IN MAXIMUM CIVIL PEN7 ALTIES.— 

8 (1) TEMPORARY INCREASE.—Notwithstanding 

9 the dollar amounts specified for maximum civil pen10 alties specified in section 20(a)(1) of the Consumer 

11 Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2069(a)(1)), section 

12 5(c)(1) of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, 

13 and section 5(e)(1) of the Flammable Fabrics Act 

14 (15 U.S.C. 1194(e)(1)), the maximum civil penalties 

15 for any violation specified in such sections shall be 

16 $5,000,000, beginning on the date that is the earlier 

17 of the date on which final regulations are issued 

18 under section 3(b) or 360 days after the date of en19 actment of this Act. 

20 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 

21 cease to be in effect on the date on which the 

22 amendments made by subsection (b)(1) shall take ef23 fect. 

24 (b) PERMANENT INCREASE IN MAXIMUM CIVIL PEN25 ALTIES.— 

26 (1) AMENDMENTS.— 


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1 (A) CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT.— 

2 Section 20(a)(1) of the Consumer Product 

3 Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2069(a)(1)) is amended 

4 by striking ‘‘$1,250,000’’ both places it appears 

5 and inserting ‘‘$10,000,000’’. 

6 (B) FEDERAL HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

7 ACT.—Section 5(c)(1) of the Federal Haz8 ardous Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 1264(c)(1)) 

9 is amended by striking ‘‘$1,250,000’’ both 

10 places it appears and inserting ‘‘$10,000,000’’. 

11 (C) FLAMMABLE FABRICS ACT.—Section 

12 5(e)(1) of the Flammable Fabrics Act (15 

13 U.S.C. 1194(e)(1)) is amended by striking 

14 ‘‘$1,250,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$10,000,000’’. 

15 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

16 by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date that 

17 is 1 year after the earlier of— 

18 (A) the date on which final regulations are 

19 issued pursuant to section 3(b); or 

20 (B) 360 days after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act. 

22 SEC. 3. DETERMINATION OF PENALTIES BY THE CON23 SUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION. 

24 (a) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED.— 


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1 (1) CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY ACT.—Section 

2 20(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 

3 U.S.C. 2069(b)) is amended— 

4 (A) by inserting ‘‘the nature, cir5 cumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation, 

6 including’’ after ‘‘shall consider’’; 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘products distributed, and’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘products distributed,’’; and 

9 (C) by inserting ‘‘, and such other factors 

10 as appropriate’’ before the period. 

11 (2) FEDERAL HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ACT.— 

12 Section 5(c)(3) of the Federal Hazardous Sub13 stances Act (15 U.S.C. 1264(c)(3)) is amended— 

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘the nature, cir15 cumstances, extent ,and gravity of the violation, 

16 including’’ after ‘‘shall consider’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘substance distributed, 

18 and’’ and inserting ‘‘substance distributed,’’; 

19 and 

20 (C) by inserting ‘‘, and such other factors 

21 as appropriate’’ before the period. 

22 (3) FLAMMABLE FABRICS ACT.—Section 5(e)(2) 

23 of the Flammable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 

24 1194(e)(2)) is amended— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘nature and number’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘nature, circumstances, extent, and 

3 gravity’’; 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘absence of injury, and’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘absence of injury,’’; and 

6 (C) by inserting ‘‘, and such other factors 

7 as appropriate’’ before the period. 

8 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, and in accordance with the 

10 procedures of section 553 of title 5, United States Code, 

11 the Commission shall issue a final regulation providing its 

12 interpretation of the penalty factors described in section 

13 20(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 

14 2069(b)), section 5(c)(3) of the Federal Hazardous Sub15 stances Act (15 U.S.C. 1264(c)(3)), and section 5(e)(2) 

16 of the Flammable Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1194(e)(2)), as 

17 amended by subsection (a). 

Passed the House of Representatives October 9, 

2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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