I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 563

To establish a toll free number in the Department of Commerce to assist

consumers in determining if products are American-made.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 4, 1997

Mr. TRAFICANT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To establish a toll free number in the Department of Commerce to assist consumers in determining if products

are American-made.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF TOLL FREE NUMBER PRO4 GRAM.

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Commerce

6 shall establish a toll free number program to help inform

7 consumers whether a product is made in America or the

8 equivalent thereof. The Secretary shall publish the toll-free

9 number by notice in the Federal Register.
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1 (b) CONTRACT.—The Secretary of Commerce shall

2 enter into a contract for—

3 (1) the establishment and operation of the toll

4 free number pilot program provided for in subsection

5 (a), and

6 (2) the registration of products pursuant to

7 regulations issued under section 2,

8 which shall be funded entirely from fees collected under

9 section 2(b).

10 (c) USE.—The toll free number shall be used solely

11 to inform consumers as to whether products are registered

12 under section 2 as made in America or the equivalent

13 thereof. Consumers shall also be informed that registra14 tion of a product does not mean—

15 (1) that the product is endorsed or approved by

16 the Government,

17 (2) that the Secretary has conducted any inves18 tigation to confirm that the product is a product

19 which meets the definition of made in America or

20 the equivalent thereof, or

21 (3) that the product contains 100 percent Unit22 ed States content.

23 SEC. 2. REGISTRATION.

24 (a) PROPOSED REGULATION.—The Secretary of

25 Commerce shall promulgate a regulation—
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1 (1) to establish a procedure under which the

2 manufacturer of a product may voluntarily register

3 such product as complying with the definition of a

4 product made in America or the equivalent thereof

5 and have such product included in the information

6 available through the toll free number established

7 under section 1(a);

8 (2) to establish, assess, and collect a fee to

9 cover all the costs (including start-up costs) of reg10 istering products and including registered products

11 in information provided under the toll-free number;

12 and

13 (3) for the establishment under section 1(a) of

14 the toll-free number pilot program.

15 (b) REGISTRATION FEE.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Manufacturers of products

17 included in information provided under section 1

18 shall be subject to a fee imposed by the Secretary

19 of Commerce to pay the cost of registering products

20 and including them in information provided under

21 subsection (a).

22 (2) AMOUNT.—The amount of fees imposed

23 under paragraph (1) shall—
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1 (A) in the case of a manufacturer, not be

2 greater than the cost of registering the manu3 facturer’s product and providing product infor4 mation directly attributable to such manufac5 turer, and

6 (B) in the case of the total amount of fees,

7 not be greater than the total amount appro8 priated to the Secretary of Commerce for sala9 ries and expenses directly attributable to reg10 istration of manufacturers and having products

11 included in the information provided under sec12 tion 1(a).

13 (3) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—Fees collected for a fis15 cal year pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be

16 credited to the appropriation account for sala17 ries and expenses of the Secretary of Commerce

18 and shall be available in accordance with appro19 priation Acts until expended without fiscal year

20 limitation.

21 (B) COLLECTIONS AND APPROPRIATION

22 ACTS.—The fees imposed under paragraph

23 (1)—

24 (i) shall be collected in each fiscal

25 year in an amount equal to the amount
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1 specified in appropriation Acts for such fis2 cal year, and

3 (ii) shall only be collected and avail4 able for the costs described in paragraph

5 (2).

6 SEC. 3. PENALTY.

7 Any manufacturer of a product who knowingly reg8 isters a product under section 2 which is not made in

9 America or the equivalent thereof—

10 (1) shall be subject to a civil penalty of not

11 more than $7500 which the Secretary of Commerce

12 may assess and collect, and

13 (2) shall not offer such product for purchase by

14 the Federal Government.

15 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

16 For purposes of this Act:

17 (1) The term ‘‘made in America or the equiva18 lent thereof ’’ means—

19 (A) an unmanufactured end product mined

20 or produced in the United States; or

21 (B) an end product manufactured in the

22 United States if the value of its components

23 mined, produced, or manufactured in the

24 United States equals 90 percent or more of the

25 total value of all of its components.
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1 (2) The term ‘‘product’’ means a product with

2 a retail value of at least $250.

3 SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

4 Nothing in this Act or in any regulation promulgated

5 under section 2 shall be construed to alter, amend, modify,

6 or otherwise affect in any way, the Federal Trade Com7 mission Act or the opinions, decisions, and rules of the

8 Federal Trade Commission under such Act regarding the

9 use of the term ‘‘made in America or the equivalent there10 of ’’ in labels on products introduced, delivered for intro11 duction, sold, advertised, or offered for sale in commerce.

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