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[110th Congress Public Law 241]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]

[DOCID: f:publ241.110]

[[Page 121 STAT. 1565]]

Public Law 110-241
110th Congress

                                 An Act

 
To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to make technical corrections to 
   the definition of willful noncompliance with respect to violations 
involving the printing of an expiration date on certain credit and debit 
card receipts before the date of the enactment of this Act. <<NOTE: June 
                        3, 2008 -  [H.R. 4008]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Credit and Debit 
Card Receipt Clarification Act of 2007.>> 
SECTION 1. <<NOTE: 15 USC 1601 note.>> SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Credit and Debit Card Receipt 
Clarification Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. <<NOTE: 15 USC 1681n note.>> FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (commonly 
        referred to as ``FACTA'' ) was enacted into law in 2003 and 1 of 
        the purposes of such Act is to prevent criminals from obtaining 
        access to consumers' private financial and credit information in 
        order to reduce identity theft and credit card fraud.
            (2) As part of that law, the Congress enacted a requirement, 
        through an amendment to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, that no 
        person that accepts credit cards or debit cards for the 
        transaction of business shall print more than the last 5 digits 
        of the card number or the expiration date upon any receipt 
        provided to the card holder at the point of the sale or 
        transaction.
            (3) Many merchants understood that this requirement would be 
        satisfied by truncating the account number down to the last 5 
        digits based in part on the language of the provision as well as 
        the publicity in the aftermath of the passage of the law.
            (4) Almost immediately after the deadline for compliance 
        passed, hundreds of lawsuits were filed alleging that the 
        failure to remove the expiration date was a willful violation of 
        the Fair Credit Reporting Act even where the account number was 
        properly truncated.
            (5) None of these lawsuits contained an allegation of harm 
        to any consumer's identity.
            (6) Experts in the field agree that proper truncation of the 
        card number, by itself as required by the amendment made by the 
        Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, regardless of the 
        inclusion of the expiration date, prevents a potential fraudster 
        from perpetrating identity theft or credit card fraud.
            (7) Despite repeatedly being denied class certification, the 
        continued appealing and filing of these lawsuits represents

[[Page 121 STAT. 1566]]

        a significant burden on the hundreds of companies that have been 
        sued and could well raise prices to consumers without 
        corresponding consumer protection benefit.

    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to ensure that consumers 
suffering from any actual harm to their credit or identity are protected 
while simultaneously limiting abusive lawsuits that do not protect 
consumers but only result in increased cost to business and potentially 
increased prices to consumers.
SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION OF WILLFUL NONCOMPLIANCE FOR ACTIONS BEFORE 
                    THE DATE OF THE ENACTMENT OF THIS ACT.

    (a) In General.--Section 616 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 
U.S.C. 1681n) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(d) Clarification of Willful Noncompliance.--For the purposes of 
this section, any person who printed an expiration date on any receipt 
provided to a consumer cardholder at a point of sale or transaction 
between December 4, 2004, and the date of the enactment of this 
subsection but otherwise complied with the requirements of section 
605(g) for such receipt shall not be in willful noncompliance with 
section 605(g) by reason of printing such expiration date on the 
receipt.''.
    (b) <<NOTE: 15 USC 1681n note.>> Scope of Application.--The 
amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to any action, other than 
an action which has become final, that is brought for a violation of 
605(g) of the Fair Credit Reporting Act to which such amendment applies 
without regard to whether such action is brought before or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

    Approved June 3, 2008.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 4008:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 154 (2008):
            May 13, considered and passed House.
            May 20, considered and passed Senate.

                                  <all>
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