IIB

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 754

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 26, 1999

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

and Transportation

AN ACT

To establish a toll free number under the Department of

Commerce to assist consumers in determining if products

are American-made.

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 ‘‘Made in America In3 formation Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TOLL FREE NUMBER PILOT

5 PROGRAM.

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—If the Secretary of Commerce

7 determines, on the basis of comments submitted in rule8 making under section 3, that—

9 (1) interest among manufacturers is sufficient

10 to warrant the establishment of a 3-year toll free

11 number pilot program; and

12 (2) manufacturers will provide fees under sec13 tion 3(c) so that the program will operate without

14 cost to the Federal Government,

15 the Secretary shall establish such program solely to help

16 inform consumers whether a product is ‘‘Made in Amer17 ica’’. The Secretary shall publish the toll-free number by

18 notice in the Federal Register.

19 (b) CONTRACT.—The Secretary of Commerce shall

20 enter into a contract for—

21 (1) the establishment and operation of the toll

22 free number pilot program provided for in subsection

23 (a); and

24 (2) the registration of products pursuant to

25 regulations issued under section 3,
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1 which shall be funded entirely from fees collected under

2 section 3(c).

3 (c) USE.—The toll free number shall be used solely

4 to inform consumers as to whether products are registered

5 under section 3 as ‘‘Made in America’’. Consumers shall

6 also be informed that registration of a product does not

7 mean—

8 (1) that the product is endorsed or approved by

9 the Government;

10 (2) that the Secretary has conducted any inves11 tigation to confirm that the product is a product

12 which meets the definition of ‘‘Made in America’’ in

13 section 5 of this Act; or

14 (3) that the product contains 100 percent

15 United States content.

16 SEC. 3. REGISTRATION.

17 (a) PROPOSED REGULATION.—The Secretary of

18 Commerce shall propose a regulation—

19 (1) to establish a procedure under which the

20 manufacturer of a product may voluntarily register

21 such product as complying with the definition of

22 ‘‘Made in America’’ in section 5 of this Act and have

23 such product included in the information available

24 through the toll free number established under sec25 tion 2(a);
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1 (2) to establish, assess, and collect a fee to

2 cover all the costs (including start-up costs) of reg3 istering products and including registered products

4 in information provided under the toll-free number;

5 (3) for the establishment under section 2(a) of

6 the toll-free number pilot program; and

7 (4) to solicit views from the private sector con8 cerning the level of interest of manufacturers in reg9 istering products under the terms and conditions of

10 paragraph (1).

11 (b) PROMULGATION.—If the Secretary determines

12 based on the comments on the regulation proposed under

13 subsection (a) that the toll-free number pilot program and

14 the registration of products is warranted, the Secretary

15 shall promulgate such regulation.

16 (c) REGISTRATION FEE.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Manufacturers of products

18 included in information provided under section 2

19 shall be subject to a fee imposed by the Secretary

20 of Commerce to pay the cost of registering products

21 and including them in information provided under

22 subsection (a).

23 (2) AMOUNT.—The amount of fees imposed

24 under paragraph (1) shall—
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1 (A) in the case of a manufacturer, not be

2 greater than the cost of registering the manu3 facturer’s product and providing product infor4 mation directly attributable to such manufac5 turer; and

6 (B) in the case of the total amount of fees,

7 not be greater than the total amount appro8 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for sala9 ries and expenses directly attributable to reg10 istration of manufacturers and having products

11 included in the information provided under sec12 tion 2(a).

13 (3) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Fees collected for a fis15 cal year pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be

16 credited to the appropriation account for sala17 ries and expenses of the Secretary of Commerce

18 and shall be available in accordance with appro19 priation Acts until expended without fiscal year

20 limitation.

21 (B) COLLECTIONS AND APPROPRIATION

22 ACTS.—The fees imposed under paragraph

23 (1)—

24 (i) shall be collected in each fiscal

25 year in an amount equal to the amount
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1 specified in appropriation Acts for such fis2 cal year; and

3 (ii) shall only be collected and avail4 able for the costs described in paragraph

5 (2).

6 SEC. 4. PENALTY.

7 Any manufacturer of a product who knowingly reg8 isters a product under section 3 which is not ‘‘Made in

9 America’’—

10 (1) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not

11 more than $7500 which the Secretary of Commerce

12 may assess and collect; and

13 (2) shall not offer such product for purchase by

14 the Federal Government.

15 SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

16 For purposes of this Act:

17 (1) The term ‘‘Made in America’’ has the

18 meaning given unqualified ‘‘Made in U.S.A.’’ or

19 ‘‘Made in America’’ claims for purposes of laws ad20 ministered by the Federal Trade Commission.

21 (2) The term ‘‘product’’ means a product with

22 a retail value of at least $250.

23 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

24 Nothing in this Act or in any regulation promulgated

25 under section 3 shall be construed to alter, amend, modify,
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1 or otherwise affect in any way, the Federal Trade Com2 mission Act or the opinions, decisions, rules, or any guid3 ance issued by the Federal Trade Commission regarding

4 the use of unqualified ‘‘Made in U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in

5 America’’ claims in labels on products introduced, deliv6 ered for introduction, sold, advertised, or offered for sale

7 in commerce.

Passed the House of Representatives October 25,

1999.

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL,

Clerk.