Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘International Child Support Recovery Improvement Act 
of 2012’’. 
(b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly 
provided in this Act, wherever in this Act an amendment 
is expressed in terms of an amendment to a section or 
other provision, the amendment shall be considered to be 
made to a section or other provision of the Social Security 
Act. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO ENSURE ACCESS TO CHILD SUP-
PORT SERVICES FOR INTERNATIONAL CHILD 
SUPPORT CASES. 
(a) AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF HHS TO 
ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH MULTILATERAL CHILD SUP-
PORT CONVENTIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652) 
is amended— 
(A) by redesignating the second subsection 
(l) (as added by section 7306 of the Deficit Re-
duction Act of 2005) as subsection (m); and 
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(n) The Secretary shall use the authorities otherwise 
provided by law to ensure the compliance of the United 
States with any multilateral child support convention to 
which the United States is a party.’’. 
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
453(k)(3) (42 U.S.C. 653(k)(3)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘452(l)’’ and inserting ‘‘452(m)’’. 
(b) ACCESS TO THE FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR 
SERVICE.—Section 453(c) (42 U.S.C. 653(c)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(3); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) an entity designated as a Central Author-
ity for child support enforcement in a foreign recip-
rocating country or a foreign treaty country for pur-
poses specified in section 459A(c)(2).’’. 
(c) STATE OPTION TO REQUIRE INDIVIDUALS IN 
FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO APPLY THROUGH THEIR COUN-
TRY’S APPROPRIATE CENTRAL AUTHORITY.—Section 454 
(42 U.S.C. 654) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4)(A)(ii), by inserting before 
the semicolon ‘‘(except that, if the individual apply-
ing for the services resides in a foreign reciprocating 
country or foreign treaty country, the State may opt 
to require the individual to request the services 
through the Central Authority for child support en-
forcement in the foreign reciprocating country or the 
foreign treaty country, and if the individual resides 
in a foreign country that is not a foreign recipro-
cating country or a foreign treaty country, a State 
may accept or reject the application)’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (32)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, a 
foreign treaty country,’’ after ‘‘a foreign recip-
rocating country’’; and 
(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or 
foreign obligee’’ and inserting ‘‘, foreign treaty 
country, or foreign individual’’. 
(d) AMENDMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT EN-
FORCEMENT
PROVISIONS.—Section 459A (42 U.S.C. 
659a) is amended— 
(1) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) REFERENCES.—In this part: 
‘‘(1) FOREIGN RECIPROCATING COUNTRY.—The 
term ‘foreign reciprocating country’ means a foreign 
country (or political subdivision thereof) with respect
to which the Secretary has made a declaration pur-
suant to subsection (a). 
‘‘(2) FOREIGN
TREATY
COUNTRY.—The term 
‘foreign treaty country’ means a foreign country for 
which the 2007 Family Maintenance Convention is 
in force. 
‘‘(3) 2007 FAMILY
MAINTENANCE
CONVEN-
TION.—The term ‘2007 Family Maintenance Con-
vention’ means the Hague Convention of 23 Novem-
ber 2007 on the International Recovery of Child 
Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance.’’; 
(2) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
by striking ‘‘foreign countries that are the sub-
ject of a declaration under this section’’ and in-
serting ‘‘foreign reciprocating countries or for-
eign treaty countries’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘and 
foreign treaty countries’’ after ‘‘foreign recipro-
cating countries’’; and 
(3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘the subject of 
a declaration pursuant to subsection (a)’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘foreign reciprocating countries or foreign treaty 
countries’’.
(e) COLLECTION OF PAST-DUE SUPPORT FROM FED-
ERAL TAX REFUNDS.—Section 464(a)(2)(A) (42 U.S.C. 
664(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘under section 
454(4)(A)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘under paragraph (4)(A)(ii) 
or (32) of section 454’’. 
(f) STATE LAW REQUIREMENT CONCERNING THE 
UNIFORM
INTERSTATE
FAMILY
SUPPORT
ACT 
(UIFSA).— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 466(f) (42 U.S.C. 
666(f)) is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘on and after January 1, 
1998,’’; 
(B) by striking ‘‘and as in effect on Au-
gust 22, 1996,’’; and 
(C) by striking ‘‘adopted as of such date’’ 
and inserting ‘‘adopted as of September 30, 
2008’’. 
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 28, 
UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 1738B of title 28, 
United States Code, is amended— 
(A) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘indi-
vidual contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘individual 
contestant or the parties have consented in a 
record or open court that the tribunal of the
State may continue to exercise jurisdiction to 
modify its order,’’; 
(B) in subsection (e)(2)(A), by striking 
‘‘individual contestant’’ and inserting ‘‘indi-
vidual contestant and the parties have not con-
sented in a record or open court that the tri-
bunal of the other State may continue to exer-
cise jurisdiction to modify its order’’; and 
(C) in subsection (b)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘ ‘child’ means’’ and in-
serting ‘‘(1) The term ‘child’ means’’; 
(ii) 
by 
striking 
‘‘ ‘child’s 
State’ 
means’’ and inserting ‘‘(2) The term 
‘child’s State’ means’’; 
(iii) by striking ‘‘ ‘child’s home State’ 
means’’ and inserting ‘‘(3) The term 
‘child’s home State’ means’’; 
(iv) by striking ‘‘ ‘child support’ 
means’’ and inserting ‘‘(4) The term ‘child 
support’ means’’; 
(v) 
by 
striking 
‘‘ ‘child 
support 
order’ ’’ and inserting ‘‘(5) The term ‘child 
support order’ ’’;
(vi) by striking ‘‘ ‘contestant’ means’’ 
and inserting ‘‘(6) The term ‘contestant’ 
means’’; 
(vii) by striking ‘‘ ‘court’ means’’ and 
inserting ‘‘(7) The term ‘court’ means’’; 
(viii) 
by 
striking 
‘‘ ‘modification’ 
means’’ and inserting ‘‘(8) The term 
‘modification’ means’’; and 
(ix) by striking ‘‘ ‘State’ means’’ and 
inserting ‘‘(9) The term ‘State’ means’’. 
(3) EFFECTIVE
DATE; GRACE
PERIOD
FOR 
STATE LAW CHANGES.— 
(A) PARAGRAPH (1).—(i) The amendments 
made by paragraph (1) shall take effect with 
respect to a State on the earlier of— 
(I) October 1, 2013; or 
(II) the effective date of laws enacted 
by the legislature of the State imple-
menting such paragraph, but in no event 
later than the first day of the first cal-
endar quarter beginning after the close of 
the first regular session of the State legis-
lature that begins after the date of the en-
actment of this Act.
(ii) For purposes of clause (i), in the case 
of a State that has a 2-year legislative session, 
each year of the session shall be deemed to be 
a separate regular session of the State legisla-
ture. 
(B) PARAGRAPH (2).—(i) The amendments 
made by subparagraphs (A) and (B) of para-
graph (2) shall take effect on the date on which 
the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on 
the International Recovery of Child Support 
and Other Forms of Family Maintenance enters 
into force for the United States. 
(ii) The amendments made by subpara-
graph (C) of paragraph (2) shall take effect on 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDIZATION FOR IM-
PROVED INTEROPERABILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 452 (42 U.S.C. 652), as 
amended by section 2(a)(1) of this Act, is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(o) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDIZATION FOR IM-
PROVED INTEROPERABILITY.— 
‘‘(1) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS.— 
‘‘(A) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary, in 
consultation with an interagency work group
which shall be established by the Office of Man-
agement and Budget, and considering State 
and tribal perspectives, shall, by rule, designate 
a data exchange standard for any category of 
information required to be reported under this 
part. 
‘‘(B) DATA EXCHANGE STANDARDS MUST 
BE NONPROPRIETARY AND INTEROPERABLE.— 
The data exchange standard designated under 
subparagraph (A) shall, to the extent prac-
ticable, be nonproprietary and interoperable. 
‘‘(C) OTHER
REQUIREMENTS.—In desig-
nating data exchange standards under this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall, to the extent prac-
ticable, incorporate— 
‘‘(i) interoperable standards developed 
and maintained by an international vol-
untary consensus standards body, as de-
fined by the Office of Management and 
Budget, such as the International Organi-
zation for Standardization; 
‘‘(ii) interoperable standards devel-
oped and maintained by intergovernmental 
partnerships, such as the National Infor-
mation Exchange Model; and
‘‘(iii) interoperable standards devel-
oped and maintained by Federal entities 
with authority over contracting and finan-
cial assistance, such as the Federal Acqui-
sition Regulatory Council. 
‘‘(2) DATA
EXCHANGE
STANDARDS
FOR
RE-
PORTING.— 
‘‘(A) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary, in 
consultation with an interagency work group es-
tablished by the Office of Management and 
Budget, and considering State and tribal per-
spectives, shall, by rule, designate data ex-
change standards to govern the data reporting 
required under this part. 
‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The data exchange 
standards required by subparagraph (A) shall, 
to the extent practicable— 
‘‘(i) incorporate a widely-accepted, 
nonproprietary, searchable, computer-read-
able format; 
‘‘(ii) be consistent with and implement 
applicable accounting principles; and 
‘‘(iii) be capable of being continually 
upgraded as necessary.
of a Federal program in achieving positive 
labor market outcomes (including through 
grant or contract), by— 
‘‘(I) the Department of Health 
and Human Services; 
‘‘(II) the Social Security Admin-
istration; 
‘‘(III) the Department of Labor; 
‘‘(IV) the Department of Edu-
cation; 
‘‘(V) the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development; 
‘‘(VI) the Department of Justice; 
‘‘(VII) the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs; 
‘‘(VIII) the Bureau of the Cen-
sus; 
‘‘(IX) the Department of Agri-
culture; or 
‘‘(X) the National Science Foun-
dation. 
‘‘(B) PERSONAL
IDENTIFIERS.—Data or 
information provided under this paragraph may 
include a personal identifier only if, in addition
to meeting the requirements of subsections (l) 
and (m)— 
‘‘(i) the State or Federal agency con-
ducting the research described in subpara-
graph (A)(i), or the Federal department or 
agency undertaking the evaluation or sta-
tistical analysis described in subparagraph 
(A)(ii), as applicable, enters into an agree-
ment with the Secretary regarding the se-
curity and use of the data or information; 
‘‘(ii) the agreement includes such re-
strictions or conditions with respect to the 
use, safeguarding, disclosure, or redisclo-
sure of the data or information (including 
by contractors or grantees) as the Sec-
retary deems appropriate; 
‘‘(iii) the data or information is used 
exclusively for the purposes defined in the 
agreement; and 
‘‘(iv) the Secretary determines that 
the provision of data or information under 
this paragraph is the minimum amount 
needed to conduct the research, evaluation, 
or statistical analysis, as applicable, and
will not interfere with the effective oper-
ation of the program under this part. 
‘‘(C) PENALTIES FOR UNAUTHORIZED DIS-
CLOSURE OF DATA.—Any individual who will-
fully discloses a personal identifier (such as a 
name or social security number) provided under 
this paragraph, in any manner to an entity not 
entitled to receive the data or information, shall 
be fined under title 18, United States Code, im-
prisoned not more than 5 years, or both.’’. 
SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 
shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 
titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 
Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 
by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, pro-
vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 
vote on passage. 
Passed the House of Representatives June 5, 2012. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4282 
AN ACT 
To amend part D of title IV of the Social Security 
Act to ensure that the United States can comply 
fully with the obligations of the Hague Conven-
tion of 23 November 2007 on the International 
Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of 
Family Maintenance, and for other purposes.