II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 986 

To increase the criminal penalty for mail fraud involving misrepresentation 

of the country of origin, to terminate the authority to exclude countries 

from the requirement to transmit advance electronic information for 

100 percent of mail shipments under the STOP Act of 2018, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 27, 2023 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To increase the criminal penalty for mail fraud involving 

misrepresentation of the country of origin, to terminate 

the authority to exclude countries from the requirement 

to transmit advance electronic information for 100 percent of mail shipments under the STOP Act of 2018, 

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 ‘‘STOP Act 2.0’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR MAIL FRAUD INVOLVING 

2 MISREPRESENTATION OF COUNTRY OF ORI3 GIN. 

4 Section 1341 of title 18, United States Code, is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘Whoever’’ and inserting the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whoever’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(b) MISREPRESENTATION OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

11 OF INTERNATIONAL MAIL SHIPMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person that, in violating 

13 subsection (a) or conspiring under section 371 or 

14 1349 to violate subsection (a), knowingly misrepre15 sents the country of origin of an international mail 

16 shipment in information required to be submitted 

17 under section 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002 (19 

18 U.S.C. 1415(a)), shall in addition to any other pen19 alty for the offense, be fined under this title, impris20 oned not more than 5 years, or both. 

21 ‘‘(2) SEIZURE AND FORFEITURE.—The author22 ity of the Department of Homeland Security under 

23 subsection (c)(14) of section 592 of the Tariff Act 

24 of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1592) with respect to seizure 

25 and forfeiture shall apply with respect to inter26 national mail shipments described in paragraph (1) 


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1 to the same extent that such authority applies with 

2 respect to merchandise entered or attempted to be 

3 entered in violation of subsection (a) of such section 

4 592.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO EXCLUDE COUN6 TRIES FROM REQUIREMENT TO TRANSMIT 

7 ADVANCE ELECTRONIC INFORMATION FOR 

8 100 PERCENT OF MAIL SHIPMENTS. 

9 Section 343(a)(3)(K)(vi) of the Trade Act of 2002 

10 (19 U.S.C. 1415(a)(3)(K)(vi)) is amended by adding at 

11 the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(V) The authority provided by subclause 

13 (II) to exclude a country from the requirement 

14 described in subclause (I) shall terminate on 

15 the date that is 5 years after the date of the 

16 enactment of the STOP Act 2.0.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLIANCE WITH ADVANCE 

18 ELECTRONIC INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS. 

19 Section 8003 of the STOP Act of 2018 (subtitle A 

20 of title VIII of Public Law 115–271; 132 Stat. 4077) is 

21 amended by striking subsections (c) through (f) and in22 serting the following: 

23 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT ON COMPLIANCE.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

25 after the date of the enactment of the STOP Act 


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1 2.0, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Home2 land Security shall submit to the appropriate con3 gressional committees a report on compliance with 

4 the requirements of section 343(a) of the Trade Act 

5 of 2002 (19 U.S.C. 1415(a)) that includes the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(A) An update regarding new and exist8 ing agreements reached with foreign postal op9 erators for the transmission of the information 

10 required by paragraph (3)(K) of that section. 

11 ‘‘(B) A summary of deliberations between 

12 the United States Postal Service and foreign 

13 postal operators with respect to issues relating 

14 to the transmission of that information. 

15 ‘‘(C) A summary of the progress made in 

16 achieving the transmission of that information 

17 for the percentage of shipments required by 

18 that paragraph, including the results of random 

19 checks and information disaggregated by postal 

20 and nonpostal data. 

21 ‘‘(D) An assessment of the quality of that 

22 information being received by foreign postal op23 erators, as determined by the Secretary, and ac24 tions taken to improve the quality of that infor25 mation, including estimates of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the amount of information re2 quired by section 343(a) of the Trade Act 

3 of 2002 that is missing elements, incom4 plete, inaccurate, or apparently false; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the number of shipments that 

6 U.S. Customs and Border Protection re7 quested to be searched as a result of infor8 mation required by that section; 

9 ‘‘(iii) how many shipments were actu10 ally searched pursuant to such a request; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(iv) the results of such searches, in13 cluding the number of illicit narcotics and 

14 counterfeit goods identified during such 

15 searches. 

16 ‘‘(E) A description of the results of ran17 domized tests of packages entering the United 

18 States to assess the rate of compliance with the 

19 requirements of section 343(a) of the Trade Act 

20 of 2002— 

21 ‘‘(i) disaggregated by packages trans22 ported by the United States Postal Service 

23 and packages transported by private car24 riers; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) that takes into account, as rel2 evant, the way that the factors set forth in 

3 paragraph (3) of that section may affect 

4 any differences identified between packages 

5 transported by the United States Postal 

6 Service and packages transported by pri7 vate carriers. 

8 ‘‘(F) For each report submitted during the 

9 5-year period beginning on the date of the en10 actment of the STOP Act 2.0— 

11 ‘‘(i) a list of the countries that, during 

12 the year preceding submission of the re13 port, were excluded from the requirement 

14 under subclause (I) of section 

15 343(a)(3)(K)(vi) of the Trade Act of 2002 

16 that advance information be provided for 

17 100 percent of international mail ship18 ments pursuant to subclause (II) of that 

19 section; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) for any country on the list re21 quired by clause (i) that has been excluded 

22 from the requirement described in that 

23 clause for each of the preceding 3 years— 


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1 ‘‘(I) an identification of the rea2 sons why the country remains on the 

3 list; and 

4 ‘‘(II) a description of steps that 

5 are being taken to ensure that the 

6 country is prepared for the termi7 nation of the authority to exclude 

8 countries from that requirement ter9 minates under subclause (V) of that 

10 section (as added by section 3 of the 

11 STOP Act 2.0). 

12 ‘‘(G) A summary of policies established by 

13 the Universal Postal Union that may affect the 

14 ability of the Postmaster General to obtain the 

15 transmission of the information required by sec16 tion 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002. 

17 ‘‘(H) A summary of the use of technology 

18 to detect illicit synthetic opioids and other ille19 gal substances in international mail parcels and 

20 planned acquisitions and advancements in such 

21 technology. 

22 ‘‘(I) Such other information as the Sec23 retary of Homeland Security and the Post24 master General consider appropriate with re25 spect to obtaining the transmission of informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S986.IS S986

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1 tion required by section 343(a)(3)(K) of the 

2 Trade Act of 2002. 

3 ‘‘(2) FORM OF REPORT.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each report required 

5 by paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassi6 fied form but may include a classified annex. 

7 ‘‘(B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The unclas8 sified portion of the report required by para9 graph (1) may be made available on a publicly 

10 accessible internet website of the United States 

11 Postal Service. 

12 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT13 TEES DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘ap14 propriate congressional committees’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) the Committee on the Judiciary and 

16 the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov17 ernmental Affairs of the Senate; and 

18 ‘‘(B) the Committee on the Judiciary and 

19 the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

20 House of Representatives.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS. 

22 The Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney 

23 General, and the Postmaster General may enter into a 

24 public-private partnership with private parcel services or 

25 other private information technology entities to develop 


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1 technology and processes for identifying information that 

2 could be used to identify the origin of fentanyl, other syn3 thetic opioids, and other narcotics and psychoactive sub4 stances, and precursors to such substances, including in5 formation on the origin of parcels and shipping informa6 tion. 

7 SEC. 6. INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION AND INFORMA8 TION SHARING. 

9 The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation 

10 with Secretary of State, may, as appropriate, share with 

11 and receive from the governments of foreign countries that 

12 are allies of the United States, consistent with existing 

13 law (including contractual obligations), information with 

14 respect to— 

15 (1) shippers with a history of transporting illicit 

16 fentanyl, other synthetic opioids, and other narcotics 

17 and psychoactive substances, and precursors to such 

18 substances; and 

19 (2) best practices regarding the detection of 

20 such substances, including such substances moving 

21 through the mail. 


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1 SEC. 7. TRAINING OF U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTEC2 TION OFFICERS WITH RESPECT TO DETECT3 ING SYNTHETIC OPIOIDS. 

4 The Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Pro5 tection shall provide to officers of U.S. Customs and Bor6 der Protection training in detecting illicit fentanyl, other 

7 synthetic opioids, and other narcotics and psychoactive 

8 substances, and precursors to such substances, entering 

9 the United States, including training with respect to the 

10 use of detection equipment and trends in the transpor11 tation of such substances. 

12 SEC. 8. EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF STOP ACT 

13 OF 2018. 

14 Not later than one year after the date of the enact15 ment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United 

16 States shall submit to Congress a report evaluating the 

17 implementation of the provisions of and amendments 

18 made by the STOP Act of 2018 (subtitle A of title VIII 

19 of Public Law 115–271; 132 Stat. 4073) that includes— 

20 (1) identification of potential areas of risk with 

21 respect to the entry of illicit fentanyl, other synthetic 

22 opioids, and other narcotics and psychoactive sub23 stances into the United States by mail, including 

24 any gaps that drug traffickers have found in the sys25 tem established under the STOP Act of 2018, that 

26 takes into account, as relevant, the factors set forth 


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1 in section 343(a)(3) of the Trade Act of 2002 (19 

2 U.S.C. 1415(a)(3)); 

3 (2)(A) a description— 

4 (i) of any significant differences in rates of 

5 compliance with that section between packages 

6 transported by the United States Postal Service 

7 and packages transported by private carriers; 

8 and 

9 (ii) that takes into account, as relevant, 

10 the way that the factors set forth in paragraph 

11 (3) of that section may affect any such dif12 ferences; and 

13 (B) an analysis of how, if at all, those dif14 ferences may contribute to the risks identified in 

15 paragraph (1); and 

16 (3) an assessment of— 

17 (A) the use of the authority provided under 

18 subclause (II) of section 343(a)(3)(K)(vi) of the 

19 Trade Act of 2002 (19 U.S.C. 

20 1415(a)(3)(K)(vi)) to exclude countries from 

21 the requirement under subclause (I) of that sec22 tion that advance information be provided for 

23 100 percent of international mail shipments; 

24 and 


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1 (B) whether the use of that authority 

2 should be decreased during the period before 

3 that authority terminates under subclause (V) 

4 of that section (as added by section 3). 

5 SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY. 

6 If any provision of or amendment made by this Act, 

7 or the application of such provision or amendment to any 

8 person or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the 

9 remainder of the provisions of and amendments made by 

10 this Act, and the application of such provisions and 

11 amendments to any person or circumstance, shall not be 

12 affected. 

Æ 


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