Title: Total Recall Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Total Recall Act
This bill modifies the notification requirements for consumer product recalls, including by requiring manufacturers, distributors, importers, or retailers subject to certain recall orders by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to advertise such recalls based on their previous marketing expenditures and to publish notification of such recalls on their websites and on social media.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5097 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5097

    To require greater notification to the public regarding product 
                    recalls, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 14, 2019

Ms. Meng (for herself, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Norton, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Tlaib, 
Mr. Cisneros, and Ms. Escobar) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require greater notification to the public regarding product 
                    recalls, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Total Recall Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The safety of the consumers in the United States relies 
        on the effectiveness of a company's outreach.
            (2) There are at least 400 products recalled each year by 
        the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
            (3) According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
        the average response rate of consumers for most product recalls 
        is between 4 and 18 percent.

SEC. 3. INCREASED NOTIFICATION ABOUT RECALLS BY COMPANIES PARTICIPATING 
              IN RECALLS.

    (a) Mandating Public Notice and Including Importers.--Section 
15(d)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)(1)) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``may order'' and inserting ``shall 
        order'';
            (2) by striking ``any distributor'' and inserting ``any 
        distributor, importer,''; and
            (3) by striking ``by subsection (c) and'' and inserting the 
        following: ``by subsection (c), and may order the manufacturer 
        or any distributor, importer, or retailer of such product''.
    (b) Notification Requirements.--
            (1) Requirements.--Section 15(d) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 
        2064(d)) is further amended--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph 
                (4);
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following 
                new paragraph:
    ``(3) The Commission may not approve an action plan submitted 
pursuant to paragraph (2) unless such action plan provides that the 
person submitting the action plan has performed or will perform the 
following:
            ``(A) Not later than the expiration of the 365-day period 
        starting on the date the Commission approves the action plan, 
        spending on advertising the recall of the product subject to 
        the order, using methods including those determined by the 
        Commission for conducting recalls, an amount equal to the 
        greater of--
                    ``(i)(I) at least 25 percent of the dollar amount 
                spent by such person in the 12-month period during 
                which such person spent the greatest amount on 
                traditional marketing (not including marketing through 
                the Internet) of the product; plus
                    ``(II) at least the total dollar amount spent by 
                such person marketing the product through the Internet; 
                or
                    ``(ii) if the product was part of a product bundle, 
                at least 5 percent of the dollar amount spent by such 
                person marketing the subscription service under which 
                the product bundle was sold.
            ``(B) Submitting to the Commission such evidence the 
        Commission determines adequate to show that such person has 
        complied with the requirements in subparagraph (A).
            ``(C) Posting in a clear and conspicuous manner the notice 
        required by paragraph (1) on any Internet website maintained by 
        such person until the participation rate in the recall that is 
        the subject of the notice is at least 95 percent.
            ``(D) Posting to each social media account maintained by 
        such person the notice required by paragraph (1), or a 
        description of such notice and a link to such notice, at least 
        5 times each calendar month for the 12 months after the 
        Commission has approved the action plan.''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
    ``(5) In this subsection, the term `product bundle' means a single 
product comprised of two or more products that is sold to consumers 
under a subscription service that does not permit the consumer to 
select every product comprising the single product.''.
            (2) Tolling of expenditures.--Paragraph (4) of section 
        15(d) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) (as redesignated by 
        section 3(b)(1)(A) of this Act) is amended by adding at the end 
        the following new subparagraph:
    ``(D) If the Commission revokes its approval of the action plan, 
the running of the 365-day period in paragraph (3)(A) shall be tolled. 
If the Commission approves an alternative action plan to the action 
plan for which approval was revoked, the time period for completing the 
expenditures as required by paragraph (3)(A) for such alternative 
action plan shall not exceed the number of days that did not elapse 
under such 365-day period.''.
    (c) Notification Requirements Apply to Settlement Offers.--Section 
15(f) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(f)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``Any settlement'' and inserting 
                ``Subject to paragraph (2), any settlement''; and
                    (B) by striking ``unless the settlement offer is 
                clearly frivolous or duplicative of offers previously 
                made'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (4); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new 
        paragraphs:
    ``(2) A settlement offer described in paragraph (1) may not be 
transmitted if such offer--
            ``(A) is clearly frivolous;
            ``(B) is duplicative of offers previously made; or
            ``(C) does not obligate the manufacturer, distributor, 
        importer, or retailer that is a party to such offer to perform 
        the actions in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (k)(1).
    ``(3) At the outset of a hearing under this subsection, the 
Commission shall recommend that a manufacturer, distributor, importer, 
or retailer that is or becomes a party to a settlement offer perform 
the actions described in subsection (d)(3)(A).''.
    (d) Voluntary Corrective Action Notification.--Section 15 of such 
Act (15 U.S.C. 2064) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(k) Voluntary Corrective Action.--
            ``(1) Requirements.--Any voluntary corrective action taken 
        by a manufacturer, distributor, importer, or retailer in 
        consultation with the Commission relating to a product 
        described in subsection (b) may be determined by the Commission 
        as a sufficient remedial measure only if, as part of such 
        voluntary corrective action--
                    ``(A) such manufacturer, distributor, importer, or 
                retailer provides the notice required by subsection 
                (c); and
                    ``(B) such notice is posted in the manner required 
                by subparagraphs (C) and (D) of subsection (d)(3).
            ``(2) Recommendations.--When a manufacturer, distributor, 
        importer, or retailer informs the Commission that it will take 
        voluntary corrective action in consultation with the 
        Commission, the Commission shall recommend that such 
        manufacturer, distributor, importer, or retailer perform the 
        actions described in subsection (d)(3)(A) as part of the 
        voluntary corrective action.''.

SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY.

    (a) Action Plans and Settlement Offers.--The amendments made by 
subsections (a) through (c) of section 2 shall only apply to action 
plans and settlement offers resulting from hearings under 15(d) of the 
Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) initiated on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Voluntary Corrective Action.--The amendments made by section 
2(d) shall only apply to voluntary corrective actions about which the 
Consumer Product Safety Commission is initially informed on or after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. RECALL PARTICIPATION RATES REPORTED TO CONGRESS.

    (a) Report to Congress.--Section 27(j) of the Consumer Product 
Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2076(j)) is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting 
        after ``and the Congress'' the following: ``, and shall make 
        publicly available on its website,'';
            (2) in paragraph (12)(F), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (3) by redesignating paragraph (13) as paragraph (14); and
            (4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(13) for each recall initiated or ongoing during the 
        reporting period that is pursuant to an order under section 
        15(d), a settlement agreement, or a voluntary corrective action 
        taken in consultation with the Commission--
                    ``(A) the number of products subject to the recall 
                sold;
                    ``(B) the number of such products for which a 
                consumer has received a remedy;
                    ``(C) the number of consumers to whom a direct 
                notification has been made; and
                    ``(D) the number of incidences of injuries 
                resulting from a product subject to the recall 
                occurring after the initiation of the recall that are 
                reported to the Commission; and''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply on the first day of the first fiscal year which begins after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. DIRECT NOTIFICATION DEFINED.

    Section 3(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2052(a)) 
is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (7) through (17) as 
        paragraphs (8) through (18), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(7) Direct notification.--The term `direct notification' 
        means notification by phone, email, or mail.''.
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