II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 336

To curb deceptive and misleading games of chance mailings, to provide Federal agencies with additional investigative tools to police such mailings,

to establish additional penalties for such mailings, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 3, 1999

Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To curb deceptive and misleading games of chance mailings,

to provide Federal agencies with additional investigative

tools to police such mailings, to establish additional penalties for such mailings, 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. DECEPTIVE GAMES OF CHANCE MAILINGS

4 ELIMINATION.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Deceptive Games of Chance Mailings Elimination Act of

7 1999’’.

8 (b) NONMAILABLE MATTER.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3001 of title 39,

2 United States Code, is amended—

3 (A) by redesignating subsections (j) and

4 (k) as subsections (k) and (l), respectively; and

5 (B) by inserting after subsection (i) the

6 following:

7 ‘‘(j)(1) Matter otherwise legally acceptable in the

8 mails that constitutes a solicitation or offer in connection

9 with the sales promotion for a product or service or the

10 promotion of a game of skill that includes the chance or

11 opportunity to win anything of value and that contains

12 words or symbols that suggest the recipient will, or is like13 ly to, receive anything of value, shall conform with require14 ments prescribed in regulations issued by the Postmaster

15 General.

16 ‘‘(2) Matter not in conformance with the regulations

17 prescribed under paragraph (1) shall not be carried or de18 livered by mail and shall be disposed of as the Postal Serv19 ice directs.

20 ‘‘(3) Regulations prescribed under paragraph (1)

21 shall require, at a minimum, that—

22 ‘‘(A) promotion of games of chance mailings

23 contain notification or disclosure statements, with

24 sufficiently large and noticeable type to be effective

25 notice to recipients that—
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1 ‘‘(i) any recipient is not obligated to pur2 chase a product in order to win;

3 ‘‘(ii) sets out the chances of winning accu4 rately; and

5 ‘‘(iii) advises that purchases do not en6 hance the recipient’s chances of winning;

7 ‘‘(B) games of chance mailings shall be clearly

8 labeled to—

9 ‘‘(i) identify such mailings as games of

10 chance mailings; and

11 ‘‘(ii) prohibit misleading statements rep12 resenting that recipients are guaranteed win13 ners; and

14 ‘‘(C) solicitations in games of chance mailings

15 may not represent that the recipient is a member of

16 a selected group whose chances of winning are en17 hanced as a member of that group.’’.

18 (2) FALSE REPRESENTATIONS.—Section

19 3005(a) of title 39, United States Code, is

20 amended—

21 (A) in the first sentence by striking ‘‘sec22 tion 3001 (d), (h), or (i)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec23 tion 3001 (d), (h), (i), or (j)’’; and
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1 (B) in the second sentence by striking

2 ‘‘section 3001 (d), (h), or (i)’’ and inserting

3 ‘‘section 3001 (d), (h), (i), or (j)’’.

4 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE SUBPOENAS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 30 of title 39,

6 United States Code, is amended by adding at the

7 end the following:

8 ‘‘§ 3016. Administrative subpoenas

9 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF USE OF SUBPOENAS BY

10 POSTMASTER GENERAL.—In any investigation conducted

11 under this chapter, the Postmaster General may require

12 by subpoena the production of any records (including

13 books, papers, documents, and other tangible things which

14 constitute or contain evidence) which the Postmaster Gen15 eral finds relevant or material to the investigation.

16 ‘‘(b) SERVICE.—

17 ‘‘(1) SERVICE WITHIN THE UNITED STATES.—

18 A subpoena issued under this section may be served

19 by a person designated under section 3061 of title

20 18 at any place within the territorial jurisdiction of

21 any court of the United States.

22 ‘‘(2) FOREIGN SERVICE.—Any such subpoena

23 may be served upon any person who is not to be

24 found within the territorial jurisdiction of any court

25 of the United States, in such manner as the Federal
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1 Rules of Civil Procedure prescribe for service in a

2 foreign country. To the extent that the courts of the

3 United States may assert jurisdiction over such per4 son consistent with due process, the United States

5 District Court for the District of Columbia shall

6 have the same jurisdiction to take any action re7 specting compliance with this section by such person

8 that such court would have if such person were per9 sonally within the jurisdiction of such court.

10 ‘‘(3) SERVICE ON BUSINESS PERSONS.—Service

11 of any such subpoena may be made by a Postal In12 spector upon a partnership, corporation, association,

13 or other legal entity by—

14 ‘‘(A) delivering a duly executed copy there15 of to any partner, executive officer, managing

16 agent, or general agent thereof, or to any agent

17 thereof authorized by appointment or by law to

18 receive service of process on behalf of such

19 partnership, corporation, association, or entity;

20 ‘‘(B) delivering a duly executed copy there21 of to the principal office or place of business of

22 the partnership, corporation, association, or en23 tity; or

24 ‘‘(C) depositing such copy in the United

25 States mails, by registered or certified mail, re-
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1 turn receipt requested, duly addressed to such

2 partnership, corporation, association, or entity

3 at its principal office or place of business.

4 ‘‘(4) SERVICE ON NATURAL PERSONS.—Service

5 of any subpoena may be made upon any natural per6 son by—

7 ‘‘(A) delivering a duly executed copy to the

8 person to be served; or

9 ‘‘(B) depositing such copy in the United

10 States mails by registered or certified mail, re11 turn receipt requested, duly addressed to such

12 person at his residence or principal office or

13 place of business.

14 ‘‘(5) VERIFIED RETURN.—A verified return by

15 the individual serving any such subpoena setting

16 forth the matter of such service shall be proof of

17 such service. In the case of service by registered or

18 certified mail, such return shall be accompanied by

19 the return post office receipt of delivery of such sub20 poena.

21 ‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT.—

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whenever any person, part23 nership, corporation, association, or entity fails to

24 comply with any subpoena duly served upon him, the

25 Postmaster General may request that the Attorney
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1 General seek enforcement of the subpoena in the dis2 trict court of the United States for any judicial dis3 trict in which such person resides, is found, or

4 transacts business, and serve upon such person a pe5 tition for an order of such court for the enforcement

6 of this section.

7 ‘‘(2) JURISDICTION.—Whenever any petition is

8 filed in any district court of the United States under

9 this section, such court shall have jurisdiction to

10 hear and determine the matter so presented, and to

11 enter such order or orders as may be required to

12 carry into effect the provisions of this section. Any

13 final order entered shall be subject to appeal under

14 section 1291 of title 28. Any disobedience of any

15 final order entered under this section by any court

16 shall be punished as contempt.

17 ‘‘(d) DISCLOSURE.—Any documentary material pro18 vided pursuant to any subpoena issued under this section

19 shall be exempt from disclosure under section 552 of title

20 5.’’.

21 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days

22 after the date of enactment of this section, the Post23 al Service shall promulgate regulations setting out

24 the procedures the Postal Service will use to imple25 ment this subsection.
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1 (3) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND2 MENT.—The table of sections for chapter 30 of title

3 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at

4 the end the following:

‘‘3016. Administrative subpoenas.’’.

5 (d) ADMINISTRATIVE CIVIL PENALTIES FOR NON6 MAILABLE MATTER VIOLATIONS.—Section 3012 of title

7 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end

8 the following:

9 ‘‘(e)(1) In any proceeding in which the Postal Service

10 may issue an order under section 3005(a), the Postal

11 Service may in lieu of that order or as a part of that order

12 assess civil penalties in an amount of $10,000 per viola13 tion for each mailing of nonmailable matter as defined

14 under any provision of this chapter.

15 ‘‘(2) The Postal Service shall prescribe regulations to

16 carry out the subsection.’’.

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