I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5717 

To establish a reward system to provide monetary awards to individuals 

who provide information relating to violations of the CAN–SPAM Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2008 

Mr. MCCOTTER (for himself, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. MEEKS of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish a reward system to provide monetary awards 

to individuals who provide information relating to violations of the CAN–SPAM Act. 

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 ‘‘Inform and Deter 

5 Spam Act’’ or the ‘‘ID Spam Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REWARD SYSTEM FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING 

7 VIOLATIONS OF THE CAN–SPAM ACT. 

8 Section 11 of the CAN–SPAM Act of 2003 (15 

9 U.S.C. 7710) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 11. REWARDS FOR INFORMATION ABOUT VIOLA2 TIONS. 

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF FUND.— 

4 ‘‘(1) CIVIL PENALTIES.—If in any judicial or 

5 administrative action brought by the Commission 

6 under this Act, the Commission obtains a civil pen7 alty against any person for a violation of this Act, 

8 the amount of such civil penalty shall, on the motion 

9 or at the direction of the Commission, be added to 

10 and become part of a fund established for the pro11 viding of rewards to individuals who provide infor12 mation concerning a violation of this Act. 

13 ‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF ADDITIONAL DONA14 TIONS.—The Commission is authorized to accept, 

15 hold, administer, and utilize gifts, bequests and de16 vises of property, both real and personal, to the 

17 United States for a fund described in paragraph (1). 

18 Such gifts, bequests and devises of money and pro19 ceeds from sales of other property received as gifts, 

20 bequests and devises shall be deposited in the fund 

21 established under paragraph (1) and shall be avail22 able for the purposes of such fund as described in 

23 such paragraph. 

24 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY AND AMOUNT OF REWARD.—The 

25 Commission may grant a reward in an amount not to ex26 ceed $100,000 to any individual determined by the ComVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:16 Apr 12, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5717.IH H5717

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1 mission to have provided valuable information concerning 

2 a violation of this Act which resulted in the imposition 

3 of a final court order against the person or persons found 

4 in violation of this Act. 

5 ‘‘(c) REWARD DETERMINATION SOLE DISCRETION

6 OF THE COMMISSION.—The Commission shall have the 

7 sole discretion to determine the eligibility for and the 

8 amount of any reward granted under this section. Any de9 cision by the Commission relating to the granting of a re10 ward, including whether, to whom, or in what amount 

11 shall be final and shall not be subject to judicial review. 

12 No person is authorized under this section to make any 

13 offer or promise or to otherwise bind the Commission with 

14 respect to the payment of any reward authorized under 

15 this section. 

16 ‘‘(d) NO GRANT OF IMMUNITY.—The receipt of a re17 ward under this section shall not constitute immunity 

18 from criminal liability. 

19 ‘‘(e) UNLAWFUL TO PROVIDE FALSE INFORMA20 TION.— 

21 ‘‘(1) CONDUCT PROHIBITED.—It shall be un22 lawful for any person to provide any information to 

23 the Commission that such person knows or should 

24 know to be false. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PENALTIES.—Any person who violates 

2 paragraph (1) shall be fined under title 18, United 

3 States Code, or imprisoned for not more than 5 

4 years, or both. Any person who violates paragraph 

5 (1) may be held civilly liable to the United States 

6 and assessed a civil penalty not to exceed $100,000. 

7 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Commission is authorized 

8 to issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out 

9 the reward system authorized by this section. Such regula10 tions may include establishing procedures for filing a claim 

11 of a reward under this section and procedures for main12 taining the anonymity of informants who provide informa13 tion to the Commission concerning violations of this Act.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. STUDY ON THE UTILITY OF THE REWARD SYSTEM. 

15 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

16 of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Federal 

17 Trade Commission shall transmit a report to Congress on 

18 the utility of the reward system established under section 

19 1, including the number and amount of rewards granted 

20 and the number of successful enforcement actions result21 ing from information reported to the Commission for 

22 which a reward was granted. 

Æ 


smartinez on PRODPC60 with BILLS