I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3724 

To require greater notification to the public regarding product recalls, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2021 

Ms. MENG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require greater notification to the public regarding 

product recalls, 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; FINDINGS. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Total Recall Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds that— 

7 (1) the safety of the consumers in the United 

8 States relies on the effectiveness of a company’s out9 reach; 


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1 (2) there are at least 400 products recalled 

2 each year by the Consumer Product Safety Commis3 sion; and 

4 (3) according to the Commission, the average 

5 response rate of consumers for most product recalls 

6 is between 4 and 18 percent. 

7 SEC. 3. INCREASED NOTIFICATION ABOUT RECALLS BY 

8 COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN RECALLS. 

9 (a) MANDATING PUBLIC NOTICE AND INCLUDING

10 IMPORTERS.—Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety 

11 Act (15 U.S.C. 2064)— 

12 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘the Com13 mission may order’’ and inserting ‘‘the Commission 

14 shall order’’; and 

15 (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘any dis16 tributor or retailer of the product’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘any importer distributor, or retailer of the product 

18 to cease distribution of the product or’’ 

19 (b) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

20 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 15(d) of such 

21 Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) is further amended— 

22 (A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 

23 paragraph (4); 

24 (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

25 following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(3) The Commission may not approve an action plan 

2 submitted pursuant to paragraph (2) unless such action 

3 plan provides that the person submitting the action plan 

4 has performed or will perform the following: 

5 ‘‘(A) Not later than the expiration of the 365- 

6 day period starting on the date the Commission ap7 proves the action plan, spending on advertising the 

8 recall of the product subject to the order, using 

9 methods including those determined by the Commis10 sion for conducting recalls, an amount equal to the 

11 greater of— 

12 ‘‘(i)(I) at least 25 percent of the dollar 

13 amount spent by such person in the 12-month 

14 period during which such person spent the 

15 greatest amount on traditional marketing (not 

16 including marketing through the internet) of 

17 the product; plus 

18 ‘‘(II) at least the total dollar amount spent 

19 by such person marketing the product through 

20 the internet; or 

21 ‘‘(ii) if the product was part of a subscrip22 tion service, at least 5 percent of the dollar 

23 amount spent by such person marketing the 

24 subscription service under which the product 

25 was sold. 


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1 ‘‘(B) Submitting to the Commission such evi2 dence the Commission determines adequate to show 

3 that such person has complied with the requirements 

4 in subparagraph (A). 

5 ‘‘(C) Posting in a clear and conspicuous man6 ner the notice described in subsection (c)(1)(D) on 

7 any internet website maintained by such person until 

8 the participation rate in the recall that is the subject 

9 of the notice is at least 95 percent. 

10 ‘‘(D) Posting to each social media platform 

11 maintained by such person the notice subsection 

12 (c)(1)(D), or a description of such notice and a link 

13 to such notice, at least 5 times each calendar month 

14 for the 12 months after the Commission has ap15 proved the action plan.’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(5) In this subsection— 

19 ‘‘(A) the term ‘social media platform’ means a 

20 website or internet medium that— 

21 ‘‘(i) permits a person to become a reg22 istered user, establish an account, or create a 

23 profile for the purpose of allowing users to cre24 ate, share, and view user-generated content 

25 through such an account or profile; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) enables one or more users to generate 

2 content that can be viewed by other users of the 

3 medium; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) primarily serves as a medium for 

5 users to interact with content generated by 

6 other users of the medium; and 

7 ‘‘(B) the term ‘subscription service’ means a 

8 service under which two or more consumer products 

9 are sold to consumers that does not permit the con10 sumer to select each product comprising an indi11 vidual package.’’. 

12 (2) TOLLING OF EXPENDITURES.—Paragraph 

13 (4) of section 15(d) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) 

14 (as redesignated by section 3(b)(1)(A) of this Act) 

15 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

16 subparagraph: 

17 ‘‘(D) If the Commission revokes its approval of the 

18 action plan, the running of the 365-day period in para19 graph (3)(A) shall be tolled. If the Commission approves 

20 an alternative action plan to the action plan for which ap21 proval was revoked, the time period for completing the ex22 penditures as required by paragraph (3)(A) for such alter23 native action plan shall not exceed the number of days 

24 that did not elapse under such 365-day period.’’. 


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1 (c) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS APPLY TO SET2 TLEMENT OFFERS.—Section 15(f) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 

3 2064(f)) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘Any settlement’’ and in6 serting ‘‘Subject to paragraph (2), any settle7 ment’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘unless the settlement 

9 offer is clearly frivolous or duplicative of offers 

10 previously made’’; 

11 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para12 graph (4); and 

13 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol14 lowing new paragraphs: 

15 ‘‘(2) A settlement offer described in paragraph (1) 

16 may not be transmitted if such offer— 

17 ‘‘(A) is clearly frivolous; 

18 ‘‘(B) is duplicative of offers previously made; or 

19 ‘‘(C) does not obligate the manufacturer, dis20 tributor, importer, or retailer that is a party to such 

21 offer to perform the actions in subparagraphs (A) 

22 and (B) of subsection (k)(1). 

23 ‘‘(3) At the outset of a hearing under this subsection, 

24 the Commission shall recommend that a manufacturer, 

25 distributor, importer, or retailer that is or becomes a party 


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1 to a settlement offer perform the actions described in sub2 section (d)(3).’’. 

3 (d) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION NOTIFICA4 TION.—Section 15 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064) is further 

5 amended by adding at the end the following new sub6 section: 

7 ‘‘(k) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS.—Any voluntary correc9 tive action taken by a manufacturer, distributor, im10 porter, or retailer in consultation with the Commis11 sion relating to a product described in subsection (b) 

12 may be determined by the Commission as a suffi13 cient remedial measure only if, as part of such vol14 untary corrective action— 

15 ‘‘(A) such manufacturer, distributor, im16 porter, or retailer provides the notice required 

17 by subsection (c); and 

18 ‘‘(B) such notice is posted in the manner 

19 required by subparagraphs (C) and (D) of sub20 section (d)(3). 

21 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—When a manufac22 turer, distributor, importer, or retailer informs the 

23 Commission that it will take voluntary corrective ac24 tion in consultation with the Commission, the Com25 mission shall recommend that such manufacturer, 


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1 distributor, importer, or retailer perform the actions 

2 described in subsection (d) as part of the voluntary 

3 corrective action.’’. 

4 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 

5 (a) ACTION PLANS AND SETTLEMENT OFFERS.— 

6 The amendments made by subsections (a) through (c) of 

7 section 3 shall only apply to action plans initiated under 

8 section 15(d) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 

9 U.S.C. 2064(d)) and settlement offers submitted under 

10 section 15(f) of such Act, (15 U.S.C. 2064(f)) on or after 

11 the date of enactment of this Act. 

12 (b) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION.—The amend13 ments made by subsection (d) of section 3 shall only apply 

14 to voluntary corrective actions about which the Consumer 

15 Product Safety Commission is initially informed on or 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 5. RECALL PARTICIPATION RATES REPORTED TO 

18 CONGRESS. 

19 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Section 27(j) of the 

20 Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2076(j)) is 

21 amended— 

22 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

23 inserting after ‘‘and the Congress’’ the following: ‘‘, 

24 and shall make publicly available on its website,’’; 


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1 (2) in paragraph (12)(F), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (3) by redesignating paragraph (13) as para4 graph (14); and 

5 (4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol6 lowing new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(13) for each recall initiated or ongoing during 

8 the reporting period that is pursuant to an order 

9 under section 15(d), a settlement agreement, or a 

10 voluntary corrective action taken in consultation 

11 with the Commission— 

12 ‘‘(A) the number of products subject to the 

13 recall sold; 

14 ‘‘(B) the number of such products for 

15 which a consumer has been remedied; 

16 ‘‘(C) the number of consumers to whom a 

17 notification has been made directly; and 

18 ‘‘(D) the number of incidences of injuries 

19 resulting from a product subject to the recall 

20 occurring after the initiation of the recall that 

21 are reported to the Commission; and’’. 

22 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall apply on the first day of the first fiscal 


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1 year which begins after the date of the enactment of this 

2 Act. 

Æ 


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