103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2243

AN ACT

To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to

such Act, and for other purposes.extend the authorization of appropriations in
103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2243

AN ACT

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.

11 SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDERS.

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

13 as follows:

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

15 shall become final as follows:
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1 ‘‘(1) Upon the expiration of the time allowed

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

3 if no such petition has been duly filed within such

4 time, except that the Commission may after the

5 order becomes final modify or set it aside to the ex6 tent provided in the last sentence of subsection (b).

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

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

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

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

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

12 conditions as may be appropriate, by—

13 ‘‘(A) the Commission,

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

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

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

17 application for such a stay was previously sub18 mitted to the Commission and the Commission,

19 within the 30-day period beginning on the date

20 the application was received by the Commission,

21 either denied the application or did not grant or

22 deny the application, or

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

24 petition for a writ of certiorari is pending.
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1 ‘‘(3) For purposes of subsection (m)(1)(B) and

2 section 19(a)(2)—

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

4 review of the order of the Commission has been

5 filed and if the order of the Commission has

6 been affirmed or the petition for review has

7 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

8 United States and no petition for certiorari has

9 been duly filed, upon the expiration of the time

10 allowed for filing a petition to the Supreme

11 Court for a writ of certiorari,

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

13 review of the order of the Commission has been

14 filed and if the order of the Commission has

15 been affirmed or the petition for review has

16 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

17 United States, upon the denial of a petition for

18 a writ of certiorari, or

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

20 review of the order of the Commission has been

21 filed, upon the expiration of 30 days from the

22 date of issuance of a mandate of the Supreme

23 Court directing that the order of the Commis24 sion be affirmed or the petition for review be

25 dismissed.
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1 ‘‘(4) In the case of an order provision requiring

2 a person, partnership, or corporation to divest itself

3 of stock, other share capital, or assets—

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

5 review of such order of the Commission has

6 been filed and if the order of the Commission

7 has been affirmed or the petition for review has

8 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

9 United States and no petition for certiorari has

10 been duly filed, upon the expiration of the time

11 allowed for filing a petition to the Supreme

12 Court for a writ of certiorari,

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

14 review of such order of the Commission has

15 been filed and if the order of the Commission

16 has been affirmed or the petition for review has

17 been dismissed by a court of appeals of the

18 United States upon the denial of a petition for

19 a writ of certiorari, or

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

21 review of such order of the Commission has

22 been filed, upon the expiration of 30 days from

23 the date of issuance of a mandate of the Su24 preme Court directing that the order of the
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1 Commission be affirmed or the petition for re2 view be dismissed.’’.

3 SEC. 3. PROCEEDINGS SUBSEQUENT TO VIOLATIONS OF

4 ORDERS.

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

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

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

8 time it appears.

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

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

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

12 against such defendant, the court shall also review the de13 termination of law made by the Commission in the pro14 ceeding under subsection (b) that the act or practice which

15 was the subject of such proceeding constituted an unfair

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

17 SEC. 4. CIVIL INVESTIGATIVE DEMANDS.

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

19 1(a)) is amended—

20 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘unfair or de21 ceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce

22 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1))’’ and insert23 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘act or practice or method of

24 competition declared unlawful by a law administered

25 by the Commission’’;
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1 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘unfair or de2 ceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce

3 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1))’’ and insert4 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘acts or practices or methods of

5 competition declared unlawful by a law administered

6 by the Commission’’; and

7 (3) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘unfair or de8 ceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce

9 (within the meaning of section 5(a)(1))’’ and insert10 ing in lieu thereof ‘‘act or practice or method of

11 competition declared unlawful by a law administered

12 by the Commission’’.

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

14 57b–1(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘unfair or deceptive acts

15 or practices in or affecting commerce (within the meaning

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

17 or practice or method of competition declared unlawful by

18 a law administered by the Commission’’.

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

20 1(j)) is amended by inserting immediately before the semi21 colon the following: ‘‘, any proceeding under section 11(b)

22 of the Clayton Act, or any adjudicative proceeding under

23 any other provision of law’’.
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1 SEC. 5. AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES.

2 The Federal Trade Commission Act is amended by

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

4 respectively, and by inserting after section 23 the follow5 ing:

6 ‘‘SEC. 24. (a) The Commission shall not have any au7 thority to conduct any study, investigation, or prosecution

8 of any agricultural cooperative for any conduct which, be9 cause of the provisions of the Act entitled ‘An Act to au10 thorize association of producers of agricultural products’,

11 approved February 18, 1922 (7 U.S.C. 291 et seq., com12 monly known as the Capper-Volstead Act), is not a viola13 tion of any of the antitrust Acts or this Act.

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

15 to conduct any study or investigation of any agricultural

16 marketing orders.’’.

17 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

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

19 section 5) is amended to read as follows:

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

21 duties of the Commission there are authorized to be appro22 priated $88,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, $92,000,000 for

23 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.

Passed the House of Representatives June 21, 1993.

Attest:

Clerk.