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[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5315 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5315

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to require annual reports to 
Congress regarding the status of investigations of unfair or deceptive 
    acts or practices, and of unfair methods of competition, in or 
                          affecting commerce.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2016

    Mr. Guthrie (for himself, Mr. Burgess, and Mrs. Mimi Walters of 
 California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
   the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to require annual reports to 
Congress regarding the status of investigations of unfair or deceptive 
    acts or practices, and of unfair methods of competition, in or 
                          affecting commerce.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Clarifying Legality and Enforcement 
Action Reasoning Act of 2016'' or the ``CLEAR Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORTING ON THE STATUS OF INVESTIGATIONS.

    Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(o) Report on Investigations.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Commission shall, on an annual 
        basis, submit a report to Congress on investigations with 
        respect to unfair or deceptive acts or practices, and with 
        respect to unfair methods of competition, in or affecting 
        commerce (within the meaning of subsection (a)(1)), detailing--
                    ``(A) the number of such investigations the 
                Commission has commenced;
                    ``(B) the number of such investigations the 
                Commission has closed with no official agency action;
                    ``(C) the disposition of such investigations, if 
                such investigations have concluded and resulted in 
                official agency action; and
                    ``(D) for each such investigation that was closed 
                with no official agency action, a description 
                sufficient to indicate the legal analysis supporting 
                the Commission's decision not to continue such 
                investigation, and the industry sectors of the entities 
                subject to each such investigation.
            ``(2) Privacy protection.--The description required under 
        paragraph (1)(D) shall not include the identity of the person 
        who is the subject of an investigation or any other information 
        that identifies the person.''.
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