Union Calendar No. 233

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 754

[Report No. 106–399]

A BILL

To establish a toll free number under the Federal

Trade Commission to assist consumers in determining if products are American-made.

OCTOBER 19, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,

and ordered to be printed
IB

Union Calendar No. 233

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 754

[Report No. 106–399]

To establish a toll free number under the Federal Trade Commission to

assist consumers in determining if products are American-made.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 11, 1999

Mr. TRAFICANT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

OCTOBER 19, 1999

Additional sponsors: Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Ms.

KAPTUR, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr.

PALLONE, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.

SANDERS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. KILDEE, Mrs. MYRICK, and

Mr. FORBES

OCTOBER 19, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 11, 1999]

A BILL

To establish a toll free number under the Federal Trade

Commission to assist consumers in determining if products are American-made.
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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 ‘‘Made in America Infor5 mation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TOLL FREE NUMBER PILOT

7 PROGRAM.

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

9 determines, on the basis of comments submitted in rule10 making under section 3, that—

11 (1) interest among manufacturers is sufficient to

12 warrant the establishment of a 3-year toll free number

13 pilot program, and

14 (2) manufacturers will provide fees under section

15 3(c) so that the program will operate without cost to

16 the Federal Government,

17 the Secretary shall establish such program solely to help in18 form consumers whether a product is ‘‘Made in America’’.

19 The Secretary shall publish the toll-free number by notice

20 in the Federal Register.

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

22 enter into a contract for—

23 (1) the establishment and operation of the toll

24 free number pilot program provided for in subsection

25 (a), and
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1 (2) the registration of products pursuant to regu2 lations issued under section 3,

3 which shall be funded entirely from fees collected under sec4 tion 3(c).

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

6 inform consumers as to whether products are registered

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

8 also be informed that registration of a product does not

9 mean—

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

11 the Government,

12 (2) that the Secretary has conducted any inves13 tigation to confirm that the product is a product

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

15 section 5 of this Act, or

16 (3) that the product contains 100 percent United

17 States content.

18 SEC. 3. REGISTRATION.

19 (a) PROPOSED REGULATION.—The Secretary of Com20 merce shall propose a regulation—

21 (1) to establish a procedure under which the

22 manufacturer of a product may voluntarily register

23 such product as complying with the definition of

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

25 such product included in the information available
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1 through the toll free number established under section

2 2(a);

3 (2) to establish, assess, and collect a fee to cover

4 all the costs (including start-up costs) of registering

5 products and including registered products in infor6 mation provided under the toll-free number;

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

8 the toll-free number pilot program; and

9 (4) to solicit views from the private sector con10 cerning the level of interest of manufacturers in reg11 istering products under the terms and conditions of

12 paragraph (1).

13 (b) PROMULGATION.—If the Secretary determines

14 based on the comments on the regulation proposed under

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

16 the registration of products is warranted, the Secretary

17 shall promulgate such regulation.

18 (c) REGISTRATION FEE.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Manufacturers of products in20 cluded in information provided under section 2 shall

21 be subject to a fee imposed by the Secretary of Com22 merce to pay the cost of registering products and in23 cluding them in information provided under sub24 section (a).
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1 (2) AMOUNT.—The amount of fees imposed under

2 paragraph (1) shall—

3 (A) in the case of a manufacturer, not be

4 greater than the cost of registering the manufac5 turer’s product and providing product informa6 tion directly attributable to such manufacturer,

7 and

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

9 not be greater than the total amount appro10 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for salaries

11 and expenses directly attributable to registration

12 of manufacturers and having products included

13 in the information provided under section 2(a).

14 (3) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Fees collected for a fiscal

16 year pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be credited

17 to the appropriation account for salaries and ex18 penses of the Secretary of Commerce and shall be

19 available in accordance with appropriation Acts

20 until expended without fiscal year limitation.

21 (B) COLLECTIONS AND APPROPRIATION

22 ACTS.—The fees imposed under paragraph (1)—

23 (i) shall be collected in each fiscal year

24 in an amount equal to the amount specified
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1 in appropriation Acts for such fiscal year,

2 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 more

11 than $7500 which the Secretary of Commerce may as12 sess 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 mean18 ing given unqualified ‘‘Made in U.S.A.’’ or ‘‘Made in

19 America’’ claims for purposes of laws administered by

20 the Federal Trade Commission.

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

22 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 Commis2 sion Act or the opinions, decisions, rules, or any guidance

3 issued by the Federal Trade Commission regarding the use

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

5 claims in labels on products introduced, delivered for intro6 duction, sold, advertised, or offered for sale in commerce.