I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2243

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to extend the authorization

of appropriations in such Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 24, 1993

Mr. SWIFT (for himself and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to extend

the authorization of appropriations in such Act, 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, REFERENCE.

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

5 ‘‘Federal Trade Commission Act Amendments of 1993’’.

6 (b) REFERENCE.—Whenever in this Act an amend7 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

8 to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference

9 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi10 sion of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
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1 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDERS.

2 Section 5(g) (15 U.S.C. 45(g)) is amended to read

3 as follows:

4 ‘‘(g) An order of the Commission to cease and desist

5 shall become final as follows:

6 ‘‘(1) Upon the expiration of the time allowed

7 for filing a petition under subsection (c) for review

8 if no such petition has been duly filed within such

9 time, except that the Commission may after the

10 order becomes final modify or set it aside to the ex11 tent provided in the last sentence of subsection (b).

12 ‘‘(2) Except as to any order provision subject to

13 paragraph (4), upon the 60th day after such order

14 is served if a petition under subsection (c) for review

15 has been duly filed, except that any such order may

16 be stayed, in whole or in part and subject to such

17 conditions as may be appropriate, by—

18 ‘‘(A) the Commission,

19 ‘‘(B) an appropriate court of appeals of

20 the United States if (i) a petition for review of

21 such order is pending in such court, and (ii) an

22 application for such a stay was previously sub23 mitted to the Commission and the Commission,

24 within the 30-day period beginning on the date

25 the application was received by the Commission,
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1 either denied the application or did not grant or

2 deny the application, or

3 ‘‘(C) the Supreme Court if an applicable

4 petition for a writ of certiorari is pending.

5 ‘‘(3) For purposes of subsection (m)(1)(B) and

6 section 19(a)(2)—

7 ‘‘(A) if a petition under subsection (c) for

8 review of the order of the Commission has been

9 filed and if the order of the Commission has

10 been affirmed or the petition for review has

11 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

12 United States and no petition for certiorari has

13 been duly filed, upon the expiration of the time

14 allowed for filing a petition to the Supreme

15 Court for a writ of certiorari,

16 ‘‘(B) if a petition under subsection (c) for

17 review of the order of the Commission has been

18 filed and if the order of the Commission has

19 been affirmed or the petition for review has

20 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

21 United States, upon the denial of a petition for

22 a writ of certiorari, or

23 ‘‘(C) if a petition under subsection (c) for

24 review of the order of the Commission has been

25 filed, upon the expiration of 30 days from the
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1 date of issuance of a mandate of the Supreme

2 Court directing that the order of the Commis3 sion be affirmed or the petition for review be

4 dismissed.

5 ‘‘(4) In the case of an order provision requiring

6 a person, partnership, or corporation to divest itself

7 of stock, other share capital, or assets—

8 ‘‘(A) if a petition under subsection (c) for

9 review of such order of the Commission has

10 been filed and if the order of the Commission

11 has been affirmed or the petition for review has

12 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

13 United States and no petition for certiorari has

14 been duly filed, upon the expiration of the time

15 allowed for filing a petition to the Supreme

16 Court for a writ of certiorari,

17 ‘‘(B) if a petition under subsection (c) for

18 review of such order of the Commission has

19 been filed and if the order of the Commission

20 has been affirmed or the petition for review has

21 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

22 United States upon the denial of a petition for

23 a writ of certiorari, or

24 ‘‘(C) if a petition under subsection (c) for

25 review of such order of the Commission has
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1 been filed, upon the expiration of 30 days from

2 the date of issuance of a mandate of the Su3 preme Court directing that the order of the

4 Commission be affirmed or the petition for re5 view be dismissed.’’.

6 SEC. 3. PROCEEDINGS SUBSEQUENT TO VIOLATIONS OF

7 ORDERS.

8 (a) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 5(m)(1)(B) (15

9 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, other

10 than a consent order,’’ immediately after ‘‘order’’ the first

11 time it appears.

12 (b) DETERMINATIONS OF LAW.—Section 5(m)(2) (15

13 U.S.C. 45(m)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the

14 following: ‘‘Upon request of any party to such an action

15 against such defendant, the court shall also review the de16 termination of law made by the Commission in the pro17 ceeding under subsection (b) that the act or practice which

18 was the subject of such proceeding constituted an unfair

19 or deceptive act or practice in violation of subsection (a).’’.

20 SEC. 4. CIVIL INVESTIGATIVE DEMANDS.

21 (a) SECTION 20(a).—Section 20(a) (15 U.S.C. 57b–

22 1(a)) is amended—

23 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘unfair or de24 ceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce

25 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1))’’ and insert-
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1 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘act or practice or method of

2 competition declared unlawful by a law administered

3 by the Commission’’;

4 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘unfair or de5 ceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce

6 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1))’’ and insert7 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘acts or practices or methods of

8 competition declared unlawful by a law administered

9 by the Commission’’; and

10 (3) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘unfair or de11 ceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce

12 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1))’’ and insert13 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘act or practice or method of

14 competition declared unlawful by a law administered

15 by the Commission’’.

16 (b) SECTION 20(c).—Section 20(c)(1) (15 U.S.C.

17 57b–1(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘unfair or deceptive acts

18 or practices in or affecting commerce (within the meaning

19 of section 5(a)(1))’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘any act

20 or practice or method of competition declared unlawful by

21 a law administered by the Commission’’.

22 (c) SECTION 20(j).—Section 20(j) (15 U.S.C. 57b–

23 1(j)) is amended by inserting immediately before the semi24 colon the following: ‘‘, any proceeding under section 11(b)
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1 of the Clayton Act, or any adjudicative proceeding under

2 any other provision of law’’.

3 SEC. 5. AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES.

4 The Federal Trade Commission Act is amended by

5 redesignating sections 24 and 25 as sections 25 and 26,

6 respectively, and by inserting after section 23 the follow7 ing:

8 ‘‘SEC. 24. (a) The Commission shall not have any au9 thority to conduct any study, investigation, or prosecution

10 of any agricultural cooperative for any conduct which, be11 cause of the provisions of the Act entitled ‘An Act to au12 thorize association of producers of agricultural products’,

13 approved February 18, 1922 (7 U.S.C. 291 et seq., com14 monly known as the Capper-Volstead Act), is not a viola15 tion of any of the antitrust Acts or this Act.

16 ‘‘(b) The Commission shall not have any authority

17 to conduct any study or investigation of any agricultural

18 marketing orders.’’.

19 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

20 Section 25 (15 U.S.C. 57c) (as so redesignated by

21 section 5) is amended to read as follows:

22 ‘‘SEC. 25. To carry out the functions, powers, and

23 duties of the Commission there are authorized to be appro24 priated $88,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, $92,000,000 for

25 fiscal year 1994, and $99,000,000 for fiscal year 1995.’’.
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1 SEC. 7. ACTION OF COMMISSION RESPECTING CERTAIN

2 PROCEEDINGS.–

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Trade Commission

4 shall not have any authority to use any funds which are

5 authorized under section 25 to be appropriated to carry

6 out the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et

7 seq.) for fiscal years 1993, 1994, or 1995 for the purpose

8 of submitting statements to, appearing before, or interven9 ing in the proceedings of, any Federal or State agency

10 unless the Commission notifies the Committee on Energy

11 and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the

12 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of

13 the Senate of such action as soon as possible.

14 (b) NOTICE.—The notice required by subsection (a)

15 with respect to Federal Trade Commission action shall in16 clude—

17 (1) the name of the agency involved,

18 (2) the date of such action, and

19 (3) a concise statement regarding the nature

20 and purpose of such action.

21 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsections

23 (b) and (c), the amendments made by this Act and this

24 Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

25 (b) SECTION 2.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendment made by

2 section 2 shall apply only with respect to cease and

3 desist orders issued under section 5 of the Federal

4 Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) after the date

5 of enactment of this Act.

6 (2) CONSTRUCTION.—The amendment made by

7 section 2 shall not be construed to affect in any

8 manner a cease and desist order which was issued

9 before the date of enactment of this Act. Such

10 amendment shall not be construed to affect in any

11 manner a cease and desist order issued after the

12 date of enactment of this Act, if such order was is13 sued pursuant to remand from a court of appeals or

14 the Supreme Court of an order issued by the Fed15 eral Trade Commission before the date of enactment

16 of this Act.

17 (c) SECTION 4.—The amendments made by section

18 4 shall apply only with respect to compulsory process is19 sued after the date of enactment of this Act.

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