I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 754
To establish a toll free number under the Federal Trade Commission to
assist consumers in determining if products are American-made.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 11, 1999
Mr. TRAFICANT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To establish a toll free number under the Federal Trade
Commission to assist consumers in determining if prod-
ucts are American-made.
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 ‘‘Made in America In-
formation Act’’.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TOLL FREE NUMBER PILOT
PROGRAM.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—If the Federal Trade Com-
mission determines, on the basis of comments submitted
in rulemaking under section 3, that—
(1) interest among manufacturers is sufficient
to warrant the establishment of a 3-year toll free
number pilot program, and
(2) manufacturers will provide fees under sec-
tion 3(c) so that the program will operate without
cost to the Federal Government,
the Commission shall establish such program solely to help
inform consumers whether a product is ‘‘Made in Amer-
ica’’. The Commission shall publish the toll-free number
by notice in the Federal Register.
(b) CONTRACT.—The Federal Trade Commission
shall enter into a contract for—
(1) the establishment and operation of the toll
free number pilot program provided for in subsection
(a), and
(2) the registration of products pursuant to
regulations issued under section 3,
which shall be funded entirely from fees collected under
section 3(c).
(c) USE.—The toll free number shall be used solely
to inform consumers as to whether products are registered
under section 3 as ‘‘Made in America’’. Consumers shall
also be informed that registration of a product does not
mean—
(1) that the product is endorsed or approved by
the Government,
(2) that the Federal Trade Commission has
conducted any investigation to confirm that the
product is a product which meets the definition of
‘‘Made in America’’ in section 5, or
(3) that the product contains 100 percent
United States content.
SEC. 3. REGISTRATION.
(a) PROPOSED REGULATION.—The Federal Trade
Commission shall propose a regulation—
(1) to establish a procedure under which the
manufacturer of a product may voluntarily register
such product as complying with the definition of
‘‘Made in America’’ in section 5 and have such prod-
uct included in the information available through the
toll free number established under section 2(a);
(2) to establish, assess, and collect a fee to
cover all the costs (including start-up costs) of reg-
istering products and including registered products
in information provided under the toll-free number;
(3) for the establishment under section 2(a) of
the toll-free number pilot program; and
(4) to solicit views from the private sector con-
cerning the level of interest of manufacturers in reg-
istering products under the terms and conditions of
paragraph (1).
(b) PROMULGATION.—If the Federal Trade Commis-
sion determines based on the comments on the regulation
proposed under subsection (a) that the toll-free number
pilot program and the registration of products is war-
ranted, the Commission shall promulgate such regulation.
(c) REGISTRATION FEE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Manufacturers of products
included in information provided under section 2
shall be subject to a fee imposed by the Federal
Trade Commission to pay the cost of registering
products and including them in information provided
under subsection (a).
(2) AMOUNT.—The amount of fees imposed
under paragraph (1) shall—
(A) in the case of a manufacturer, not be
greater than the cost of registering the manu-
facturer’s product and providing product infor-
mation directly attributable to such manufac-
turer, and
(B) in the case of the total amount of fees,
not be greater than the total amount appro-
priated to the Federal Trade Commission for
salaries and expenses directly attributable to
registration of manufacturers and having prod-
ucts included in the information provided under
section 2(a).
(3) CREDITING AND AVAILABILITY OF FEES.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Fees collected for a fis-
cal year pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
credited to the appropriation account for sala-
ries and expenses of the Federal Trade Com-
mission and shall be available in accordance
with appropriation Acts until expended without
fiscal year limitation.
(B) COLLECTIONS
AND
APPROPRIATION
ACTS.—The fees imposed under paragraph
(1)—
(i) shall be collected in each fiscal
year in an amount equal to the amount
specified in appropriation Acts for such fis-
cal year, and
(ii) shall only be collected and avail-
able for the costs described in paragraph
(2).
SEC. 4. PENALTY.
Any manufacturer of a product who knowingly reg-
isters a product under section 3 which is not ‘‘Made in
America’’—