‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE PERIOD.—This section shall cease 
to apply with respect to any electronic fund transfer ex-
tended to any person as of the earlier of—
‘‘(1) the date that any determination, pursuant 
to an administrative review or redetermination under 
paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (c), that such 
person was not the victim of identity theft becomes 
final; or 
‘‘(2) the date any decision of any Federal or 
State court that such person is obligated for such 
credit becomes final. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 
following definitions shall apply: 
‘‘(1) IDENTITY
THEFT.—The term ‘identity 
theft’ means a fraud committed using another per-
son’s identifying information, subject to such further 
definition as the Board and the Federal Trade Com-
mission may prescribe, jointly, by regulation.
‘‘(2) POLICE REPORT.—The term ‘police report’ 
means a copy of any official valid report filed by a 
person with any appropriate Federal, State, or local 
government law enforcement agency, or any com-
parable official government document that the 
Board and the Federal Trade Commission shall
jointly prescribe in regulations, that is subject to a 
criminal penalty for false statements.’’. 
(b) STATE
ENFORCEMENT
AUTHORITY.—Section 
917 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 
1693o) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(d) STATE ACTION FOR VIOLATIONS.—
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY OF STATES.—In addition to 
such other remedies as are provided under State 
law, whenever the chief law enforcement officer of a 
State, or an official or agency designated by a State, 
has reason to believe that any person has violated or 
is violating this title, the State—
‘‘(A) may bring an action to enjoin such 
violation; 
‘‘(B) may bring an action on behalf of its 
residents to recover damages for which the per-
son is liable to such residents under section 915 
as a result of the violation; and 
‘‘(C) in the case of any successful action 
under subparagraph (A) or (B), shall be award-
ed the costs of the action and reasonable attor-
ney fees as determined by the court. 
‘‘(2) RIGHTS OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.—
‘‘(A) NOTICE TO FEDERAL AGENCY.—The 
State shall serve prior written notice of any civil 
action under paragraph (1) upon the Federal
agency responsible for enforcement under this 
section and provide such agency with a copy of 
its complaint, except in any case where such 
prior notice is not feasible, in which case the 
State shall serve such notice immediately upon 
instituting such action. 
‘‘(B) INTERVENTION.—The Federal agen-
cy responsible for enforcement under this sec-
tion shall have the right—
‘‘(i) to intervene in any action re-
ferred to in subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(ii) upon so intervening, to be heard 
on all matters arising in the action; and 
‘‘(iii) to file petitions for appeal. 
‘‘(3) INVESTIGATORY
POWERS.—For purposes 
of bringing any action under this subsection, no pro-
vision of this subsection shall construed as pre-
venting the chief law enforcement officer, or an offi-
cial or agency designated by a State, from exercising 
the powers conferred on the chief law enforcement 
officer or such official by the laws of such State to 
conduct investigations or to administer oaths or af-
firmations or to compel the attendance of witnesses 
or the production of documentary and other evi-
dence. 
‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—Whenever the Federal agen-
cy responsible for enforcement under this section has 
instituted a civil action for violation of this title, no 
State may, during the pendency of such action, 
bring an action under this section against any de-
fendant named in the complaint of such agency for 
any violation of this title that is alleged in that com-
plaint.’’. 
SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 
(a) MISTAKE
OF FACT
AND CONTRACT FORMA-
TION.—No provision of any amendment made by this Act 
shall be construed as implying that a contract involving 
identity theft (as defined in such amendments) is a valid 
and enforceable contract with respect to the victim of the 
identity theft. 
(b) FRAUD.—No provision of any amendment made 
by this Act shall be construed as implying that any at-
tempt by any person to enforce, collect on, transfer, or 
assign a contract when such person knows or has reason 
to believe that a purported party to the contract is a victim 
of identity theft (as defined in such amendments) with re-
spect to such contract is not itself a fraudulent or other-
wise unlawful act under any Federal or State law. 
(c) OTHER ACTION.—No provision of any amend-
ment made by this Act shall be construed as implying that 
a person has no obligation to take any action with respect 
to any alleged identity theft, including to correct any 
record and to absolve any victim of the identity theft for 
any liability arising from the theft, whether or not—
(1) a State has in effect any procedure de-
scribed in section 133A(a), 605(a), 808A(a), or 
910A(a) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act; or 
(2) the chief law enforcement officer of any 
such State, or an official or agency designated by 
the State, has initiated any investigation or issued 
any no-fault letter or other statement pursuant to 
such procedure. 
SEC. 7. CLERICAL AMENDMENTS. 
The Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 
1601 et seq.) is amended—
(1) in the table of sections for chapter 2 of title 
I, by inserting after the item relating to section 133 
the following new item:
‘‘133A. Nonliability of identity theft victims.’’;
(2) in the table of sections for title VI, by in-
serting after the item relating to section 605 the fol-
lowing new item:
‘‘605A. Treatment of credit and other information in cases of identity theft.’’;
(3) in the table of sections for title VIII, by in-
serting after the item relating to section 808 the fol-
lowing new item:
‘‘808A. Identity theft.’’;
and
(4) in the table of sections for title IX, by in-
serting after the item relating to section 910 the fol-
lowing new item:
‘‘910A. Nonliability of identity theft victims.’’.
Æ