I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8134 

To support the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s capability to protect 

consumers from unsafe consumer products, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 28, 2020 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself and Mr. DUNCAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To support the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s capability to protect consumers from unsafe consumer products, 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 ‘‘Consumer Product 

5 Safety Inspection Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENHANCED RISK ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY. 

7 Section 17 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 

8 U.S.C. 2066) is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(i) ENHANCED RISK ASSESSMENT METHOD2 OLOGY.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 

4 after the date of enactment of the Consumer Prod5 uct Safety Inspection Enhancement Act, the Com6 mission shall enhance targeting, surveillance, and 

7 screening of consumer products entering the United 

8 States at ports of entry, including ports of entry for 

9 de minimis shipments, by— 

10 ‘‘(B) working in consultation with Customs 

11 and Border Protection to— 

12 ‘‘(i) access and leverage all available 

13 data, including manifest data, to enhance 

14 targeting of violative consumer products, 

15 including de minimis shipments containing 

16 violative consumer products; 

17 ‘‘(ii) access and leverage intellectual 

18 property rights seizure data to target prod19 ucts that may have both intellectual prop20 erty rights infringements and consumer 

21 product safety violations; 

22 ‘‘(iii) prioritize shipments coming 

23 from the People’s Republic of China; and 

24 ‘‘(iv) use the Participating Govern25 ment Agencies Message Set, or any sucVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:29 Sep 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8134.IH H8134

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1 cessor program, and additional consumer 

2 product specific data elements, including 

3 certificates of compliance and any other 

4 data that the Commission needs, to help 

5 risk assess and target violative consumer 

6 products; and 

7 ‘‘(C) building and improving information 

8 technology systems to support electronic access 

9 to and connection with the data and targeting 

10 systems associated with express consignment 

11 carrier facilities, international mail facilities, 

12 electronic commerce platforms, and other appli13 cable system participants. 

14 ‘‘(2) ELECTRONIC FILING OF CERTIFICATES OF

15 COMPLIANCE.—Beginning not later than 2 years 

16 after the date of enactment of the Port Surveillance 

17 Modernization Act, certificates of compliance shall 

18 be filed electronically for consumer products in19 tended for entry into the United States to enhance 

20 risk assessment and target de minimis shipments 

21 containing violative consumer products. 

22 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this 

23 susbection— 

24 ‘‘(A) the term ‘de minimis shipments’ 

25 means articles containing consumer products 


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1 entering the United States under the de mini2 mis value exemption in 19 U.S.C. 

3 1321(a)(2)(C); 

4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘express consignment carrier 

5 facility’ means a separate or shared specialized 

6 facility approved by the port director solely for 

7 the examination and release of express consign8 ment shipments; 

9 ‘‘(C) the term ‘ports of entry for de mini10 mis shipments’ means environments where de 

11 minimis shipments are processed, including ex12 press consignment carrier facilities, inter13 national mail facilities, and air cargo facilities; 

14 ‘‘(D) the term ‘violative consumer prod15 ucts’ means consumer products in violation of 

16 an applicable consumer product safety rule 

17 under this Act or any similar rule, regulation, 

18 standard, or ban under any other Act enforced 

19 by the Commission.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL CPSC SURVEILLANCE PERSONNEL AT 

21 KEY PORTS OF ENTRY FOR DE MINIMIS SHIP22 MENTS. 

23 The Commission shall hire, train, and assign not 

24 fewer than 16 full-time equivalent personnel during each 

25 fiscal year and to be stationed at or supporting efforts 


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1 at ports of entry, including ports of entry for de minimis 

2 shipments, for the purpose of identifying, assessing, and 

3 addressing shipments of violative consumer products. 

4 Such hiring shall continue during each fiscal year until 

5 the total number of full-time equivalent personnel equals 

6 and sustains the staffing requirements identified in the re7 port to Congress required under section 4. 

8 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months after 

10 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

11 transmit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of 

12 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com13 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and 

14 make publicly available, a study and report assessing the 

15 risk to consumers associated with the targeting and 

16 screening of de minimis e-commerce shipments. 

17 (b) REPORT REQUIREMENTS.—In the study and re18 port, the Commission shall— 

19 (1) examine a sampling of de minimis ship20 ments at a sufficient and representative sample of 

21 all types of ports of entry where de minimis ship22 ments are processed, including express consignment 

23 carrier facilities, international mail facilities, and air 

24 cargo facilities to assess the extent to which such 

25 shipments include violative consumer products; 


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1 (2) examine a sampling of shipments coming 

2 from the People’s Republic of China to identify 

3 trends associated with the shipment of products con4 taining both intellectual property rights infringe5 ments and consumer product safety violations; 

6 (3) detail plans and timelines to effectively ad7 dress targeting and screening of de minimis ship8 ments to prevent the entry of violative consumer 

9 products entering into the commerce of the United 

10 States taking into consideration projected growth in 

11 e-commerce; 

12 (4) establish metrics by which to evaluate the 

13 effectiveness of the Commission efforts to reduce the 

14 number of de minimis shipments containing violative 

15 consumer products from entering into the commerce 

16 of the United States; and 

17 (5) assess projected technology and resources, 

18 including staffing requirements necessary to imple19 ment such plans. 

20 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act— 

22 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Con23 sumer Product Safety Commission; 

24 (2) the term ‘‘de minimis shipments’’ means ar25 ticles containing consumer products entering the 


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1 United States under the de minimis value exemption 

2 in 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C); 

3 (3) the term ‘‘ports of entry for de minimis 

4 shipments’’ means environments where de minimis 

5 shipments are processed, including express consign6 ment carrier facilities, international mail facilities, 

7 and air cargo facilities; 

8 (4) the term ‘‘violative consumer products’’ 

9 means consumer products in violation of an applica10 ble consumer product safety rule under the Con11 sumer Product Safety Act or any similar rule, regu12 lation, standard, or ban under any other Act en13 forced by the Commission; 

14 (5) the term ‘‘electronic commerce platform’’ or 

15 ‘‘e-commerce platform’’ means any electronically 

16 accessed platform that includes publicly interactive 

17 features that allow for arranging the sale, purchase, 

18 payment, or shipping of goods, or that enables a 

19 person other than an operator of such platform to 

20 sell or offer to sell physical goods to consumers lo21 cated in the United States; and 

22 (6) the term ‘‘express consignment carrier facil23 ity’’ means a separate or shared specialized facility 

24 approved by the port director solely for the examina25 tion and release of express consignment shipments. 


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1 SEC. 6. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

2 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit, affect, 

3 or conflict with any other authority of the Commission or 

4 any other statutory requirements governing the Commis5 sion. 

Æ 


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