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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 754

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

A BILL

To establish a toll free number under the Federal Trade

Commission 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Made in America In5 formation Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TOLL FREE NUMBER PILOT

7 PROGRAM.

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—If the Federal Trade Com9 mission determines, on the basis of comments submitted

10 in rulemaking under section 3, that—
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1 (1) interest among manufacturers is sufficient

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

3 number pilot program, and

4 (2) manufacturers will provide fees under sec5 tion 3(c) so that the program will operate without

6 cost to the Federal Government,

7 the Commission shall establish such program solely to help

8 inform consumers whether a product is ‘‘Made in Amer9 ica’’. The Commission shall publish the toll-free number

10 by notice in the Federal Register.

11 (b) CONTRACT.—The Federal Trade Commission

12 shall enter into a contract for—

13 (1) the establishment and operation of the toll

14 free number pilot program provided for in subsection

15 (a), and

16 (2) the registration of products pursuant to

17 regulations issued under section 3,

18 which shall be funded entirely from fees collected under

19 section 3(c).

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

21 to inform consumers as to whether products are registered

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

23 also be informed that registration of a product does not

24 mean—
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1 (1) that the product is endorsed or approved by

2 the Government,

3 (2) that the Federal Trade Commission has

4 conducted any investigation to confirm that the

5 product is a product which meets the definition of

6 ‘‘Made in America’’ in section 5, or

7 (3) that the product contains 100 percent

8 United States content.

9 SEC. 3. REGISTRATION.

10 (a) PROPOSED REGULATION.—The Federal Trade

11 Commission shall propose a regulation—

12 (1) to establish a procedure under which the

13 manufacturer of a product may voluntarily register

14 such product as complying with the definition of

15 ‘‘Made in America’’ in section 5 and have such prod16 uct included in the information available through the

17 toll free number established under section 2(a);

18 (2) to establish, assess, and collect a fee to

19 cover all the costs (including start-up costs) of reg20 istering products and including registered products

21 in information provided under the toll-free number;

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

23 the toll-free number pilot program; and

24 (4) to solicit views from the private sector con25 cerning the level of interest of manufacturers in reg-
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1 istering products under the terms and conditions of

2 paragraph (1).

3 (b) PROMULGATION.—If the Federal Trade Commis4 sion determines based on the comments on the regulation

5 proposed under subsection (a) that the toll-free number

6 pilot program and the registration of products is war7 ranted, the Commission shall promulgate such regulation.

8 (c) REGISTRATION FEE.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Manufacturers of products

10 included in information provided under section 2

11 shall be subject to a fee imposed by the Federal

12 Trade Commission to pay the cost of registering

13 products and including them in information provided

14 under subsection (a).

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

16 under paragraph (1) shall—

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

18 greater than the cost of registering the manu19 facturer’s product and providing product infor20 mation directly attributable to such manufac21 turer, and

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

23 not be greater than the total amount appro24 priated to the Federal Trade Commission for

25 salaries and expenses directly attributable to
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1 registration of manufacturers and having prod2 ucts included in the information provided under

3 section 2(a).

4 (3) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Fees collected for a fis6 cal year pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be

7 credited to the appropriation account for sala8 ries and expenses of the Federal Trade Com9 mission and shall be available in accordance

10 with appropriation Acts until expended without

11 fiscal year limitation.

12 (B) COLLECTIONS AND APPROPRIATION

13 ACTS.—The fees imposed under paragraph

14 (1)—

15 (i) shall be collected in each fiscal

16 year in an amount equal to the amount

17 specified in appropriation Acts for such fis18 cal year, and

19 (ii) shall only be collected and avail20 able for the costs described in paragraph

21 (2).

22 SEC. 4. PENALTY.

23 Any manufacturer of a product who knowingly reg24 isters a product under section 3 which is not ‘‘Made in

25 America’’—
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1 (1) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not

2 more than $7500 which the Federal Trade Commis3 sion may assess and collect, and

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

5 the Federal Government.

6 SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

7 For purposes of this Act:

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

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

10 ‘‘Made in America’’ claims for purposes of laws ad11 ministered by the Federal Trade Commission.

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

13 a retail value of at least $250.

14 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

15 Nothing in this Act or in any regulation promulgated

16 under section 3 shall be construed to alter, amend, modify,

17 or otherwise affect in any way, the Federal Trade Com18 mission Act or the opinions, decisions, rules, or any guid19 ance issued by the Federal Trade Commission regarding

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

21 America’’ claims in labels on products introduced, deliv22 ered for introduction, sold, advertised, or offered for sale

23 in commerce.

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