I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5115 
To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to include requirements for 
declaring an unlawful act or practice, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 28, 2016 
Mr. MULLIN (for himself, Mr. LANCE, and Mr. HARPER) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Trade Commission Act to include 
requirements for declaring an unlawful act or practice, 
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 ‘‘Statement on Unfair-
ness Reinforcement and Emphasis Act’’ or the ‘‘SURE 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. UNLAWFUL ACT OR PRACTICE. 
Section 5(n) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
(15 U.S.C. 45(n)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(n) UNLAWFUL ACT OR PRACTICE.— 
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‘‘(1) SUBSTANTIAL INJURY REQUIRED.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 
have no authority under this section or section 
18 to declare unlawful an act or practice on the 
grounds that such act or practice is unfair un-
less the act or practice causes or is likely to 
cause substantial injury to consumers which is 
not reasonably avoidable by consumers them-
selves and not outweighed by countervailing 
benefits to consumers or to competition. 
‘‘(B) 
SUBSTANTIAL
INJURY
TO
CON-
SUMERS.—For purposes of this subsection, an 
act or practice does not cause and is not likely 
to cause substantial injury to consumers if the 
injury or harm resulting from such act or prac-
tice is trivial or merely speculative. An injury 
may be sufficiently substantial if the injury 
does a small harm to a large number of people. 
An act or practice may be likely to cause a sub-
stantial injury if the act or practice raises a sig-
nificant risk of concrete harm. 
‘‘(C) CONSIDERATIONS REQUIRED.—In de-
termining whether an act or practice causes or 
is likely to cause substantial injury to con-
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sumers under this subsection, the Commission 
shall consider the following: 
‘‘(i) Whether the act or practice re-
sults in monetary harm. 
‘‘(ii) Whether the act or practice re-
sults in unwarranted health or safety risk. 
‘‘(iii) Whether the act or practice re-
sults only in emotional or other more sub-
jective harm. 
‘‘(2) NET EFFECTS OF INJURY REQUIRED.— 
‘‘(A) 
CONSIDERATIONS
REQUIRED.—An 
act or practice is not unfair unless the act or 
practice is injurious in its net effects. In deter-
mining whether an act or practice is injurious 
in its net effects, the Commission shall consider 
the following: 
‘‘(i) The various costs for a remedy, 
including the costs to the parties directly 
before the Commission. 
‘‘(ii) The burdens on society in gen-
eral in the form of increased paperwork, 
increased regulatory burdens on the flow of 
information, reduced incentives to innova-
tion and capital formation, and other simi-
lar matters. 
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‘‘(B) CONSUMER
DECISIONS.—The Com-
mission may not second-guess the wisdom of 
particular consumer decisions, but may consider 
whether the act or practice unreasonably cre-
ates or takes advantage of an obstacle to the 
free exercise of consumer decisionmaking. 
‘‘(3) PUBLIC POLICY CONSIDERATIONS.—In de-
termining whether an act or practice is unfair, the 
Commission may consider established public policies 
as evidence to be considered with all other evidence. 
Such public policy considerations may not serve as 
a primary basis for such determination.’’. 
Æ 
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