110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1252
AN ACT 
To protect consumers from price-gouging of gasoline and 
other fuels, 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 ‘‘Federal Price Gouging 
Prevention Act’’. 
SEC. 2. UNCONSCIONABLE PRICING OF GASOLINE AND 
OTHER PETROLEUM DISTILLATES DURING 
EMERGENCIES. 
(a) UNCONSCIONABLE PRICING.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 
person to sell, at wholesale or at retail in an area 
and during a period of an energy emergency, gaso-
line or any other petroleum distillate covered by a 
proclamation issued under paragraph (2) at a price 
that—
(A) is unconscionably excessive; and 
(B) indicates the seller is taking unfair ad-
vantage of the circumstances related to an en-
ergy emergency to increase prices unreasonably. 
(2) ENERGY EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The President may 
issue an energy emergency proclamation for any 
area within the jurisdiction of the United 
States, during which the prohibition in para-
graph (1) shall apply. The proclamation shall 
state the geographic area covered, the gasoline 
or other petroleum distillate covered, and the
time period that such proclamation shall be in 
effect. 
(B) DURATION.—The proclamation—
(i) may not apply for a period of more 
than 30 consecutive days, but may be re-
newed for such consecutive periods, each 
not to exceed 30 days, as the President de-
termines appropriate; and 
(ii) may include a period of time not 
to exceed 1 week preceding a reasonably 
foreseeable emergency. 
(3) FACTORS
CONSIDERED.—In determining 
whether a person has violated paragraph (1), there 
shall be taken into account, among other factors—
(A) whether the amount charged by such 
person for the applicable gasoline or other pe-
troleum distillate at a particular location in an 
area covered by a proclamation issued under 
paragraph (2) during the period such proclama-
tion is in effect—
(i) grossly exceeds the average price 
at which the applicable gasoline or other 
petroleum distillate was offered for sale by 
that person during the 30 days prior to 
such proclamation;
(ii) grossly exceeds the price at which 
the same or similar gasoline or other pe-
troleum distillate was readily obtainable in 
the same area from other competing sellers 
during the same period; 
(iii) reasonably reflected additional 
costs, not within the control of that person, 
that were paid, incurred, or reasonably an-
ticipated by that person, or reflected addi-
tional risks taken by that person to 
produce, distribute, obtain, or sell such 
product under the circumstances; and 
(iv) was substantially attributable to 
local, regional, national, or international 
market conditions; and 
(B) whether the quantity of gasoline or 
other petroleum distillate the person produced, 
distributed, or sold in an area covered by a 
proclamation issued under paragraph (2) dur-
ing a 30-day period following the issuance of 
such proclamation increased over the quantity 
that that person produced, distributed, or sold 
during the 30 days prior to such proclamation, 
taking into account usual seasonal demand vari-
ations.
(b) FALSE PRICING INFORMATION.—It shall be un-
lawful for any person to report to a Federal agency infor-
mation related to the wholesale price of gasoline or other 
petroleum distillates with actual knowledge or knowledge 
fairly implied on the basis of objective circumstances that 
such information is false or misleading. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—
(1) the term ‘‘wholesale’’, with respect to sales 
of gasoline or other petroleum distillates, means ei-
ther truckload or smaller sales of gasoline or petro-
leum distillates where title transfers at a product 
terminal or a refinery, and dealer tank wagon sales 
of gasoline or petroleum distillates priced on a deliv-
ered basis to retail outlets; and 
(2) the term ‘‘retail’’, with respect to sales of 
gasoline or other petroleum distillates, includes all 
sales to end users such as motorists as well as all 
direct sales to other end users such as agriculture, 
industry, residential, and commercial consumers. 
(d) CONSTRUCTION.—As described in this section, a 
sale of gasoline or other petroleum distillate does not in-
clude a transaction on a futures market.