I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2677 
To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to require a time limitation 
for consent orders, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 20, 2021 
Mr. BURGESS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to require 
a time limitation for consent orders, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Technological Innova-
tion through Modernizing Enforcement Act’’ or the 
‘‘TIME Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TIME LIMITATION FOR CONSENT ORDERS. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 5 of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection: 
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‘‘(o) TERMINATION CLAUSE REQUIRED FOR CON-
SENT ORDERS.—Any consent order entered into by the 
Commission shall include a termination clause that the 
consent order shall expire not later than 8 years after the 
date on which the consent order is entered into, unless 
such consent order relates to alleged fraud by the entity 
subject to the consent order and requires a time limit 
longer than 8 years based on the factors described in this 
subsection. In determining the time limit for any termi-
nation clause, the Commission shall consider each of the 
following factors: 
‘‘(1) The impact of technological progress on 
the continuing relevance of the consent order. 
‘‘(2) Whether there is reason to believe that the 
entity would engage in activities that violate this sec-
tion without the consent order 8 years after the con-
sent order is entered into by the Commission. 
‘‘(p) CONSENT ORDER REVIEW.—Any consent order 
entered into by the Commission that is unrelated to al-
leged fraud by the entity subject to the consent order and 
has a termination date more than 5 years after such con-
sent order is entered into shall include a clause providing 
for Commission review of the consent order 5 years after 
the date on which the order is entered into. Such clause 
shall require the Commission to evaluate whether the con-
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sent order continues to serve its initial purposes based on 
the factors described in subsection (o). The clause shall 
provide that if, based on such evaluation, the Commission 
determines that the consent order no longer serves its pur-
poses, the Commission shall terminate the consent order. 
‘‘(q) PETITION FOR REVIEW OF EXISTING CONSENT 
ORDERS.—Any entity that as of the effective date of this 
subsection is subject to a consent order that is unrelated 
to alleged fraud and has been effective for a period of at 
least five years may petition the Commission to terminate 
such consent order. In evaluating a petition to terminate 
a consent order under this subsection, the Commission 
shall consider whether the consent order continues to serve 
its initial purposes based on each of the factors described 
in subsection (o). If, based on such evaluation, the Com-
mission determines that the consent order no longer serves 
its purposes, the Commission shall terminate the consent 
order.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY.—The amend-
ment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the date 
of enactment of this Act and with respect to subsections 
(o) and (p) of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission 
Act (15 U.S.C. 45), as added by subsection (a), shall apply 
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with respect to any consent order entered into after such 
date. 
Æ 
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