Title: INFORM Consumers Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act or the INFORM Consumers Act
This bill requires online marketplaces to collect, verify, and disclose certain information from high-volume, third-party sellers.
High-volume, third-party sellers include online marketplace participants that conduct 200 or more transactions resulting in total revenues of $5,000 or more during a continuous 12-month period. Online marketplaces must acquire these sellers' (1) bank account numbers, (2) government-issued identification, (3) tax identification numbers, and (4) contact information. Online marketplaces must verify this information and annually certify changes to it.
Further, online marketplaces must make certain information (e.g., sellers' names and contact information) available to consumers through the sellers' product listings and provide consumers with methods to report electronically and by telephone any suspicious activity on the marketplace.
The bill provides the Federal Trade Commission with the authority to enforce these requirements.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7756 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7756

     To require online marketplaces to verify and disclose certain 
   information regarding high-volume third-party sellers of consumer 
                     products to inform consumers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 23, 2020

 Ms. Schakowsky (for herself and Ms. Castor of Florida) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To require online marketplaces to verify and disclose certain 
   information regarding high-volume third-party sellers of consumer 
                     products to inform consumers.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Integrity, Notification, and 
Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act'' or the 
``INFORM Consumers Act''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION BY ONLINE MARKETPLACES TO INFORM 
              CONSUMERS.

    (a) Verification Required.--
            (1) In general.--Any online marketplace shall require that 
        any high-volume third-party seller on the online marketplace 
        provide the online marketplace with the following information 
        within 24 hours of becoming a high-volume third-party seller:
                    (A) Bank account information, the accuracy of which 
                has been confirmed directly by the online marketplace 
                or by a payment processor or other third-party 
                contracted by the online marketplace, or, if the high-
                volume third-party seller does not have a bank account, 
                the name of the payee for payments issued by the online 
                marketplace to the high-volume third-party seller. Such 
                bank account or payee information may be provided by 
                the seller either--
                            (i) to the online marketplace; or
                            (ii) to a payment processor or other third-
                        party contracted by the online marketplace to 
                        maintain such information, provided that the 
                        online marketplace may obtain such information 
                        on demand from such payment processor or other 
                        third-party.
                    (B) Contact information, including--
                            (i) if the high-volume third-party seller 
                        is an individual, a copy of a government-issued 
                        photo identification for the individual that 
                        includes the individual's name and physical 
                        address; or
                            (ii) if the high-volume third-party seller 
                        is not an individual, either--
                                    (I) a copy of a government-issued 
                                photo identification for an individual 
                                acting on behalf of the high-volume 
                                third-party seller that includes the 
                                individual's name and physical address; 
                                or
                                    (II) a copy of a government-issued 
                                record or tax document that includes 
                                the business name and physical address 
                                of the high-volume third-party seller; 
                                and
                            (iii) a working email address and working 
                        phone number for the high-volume third-party 
                        seller.
                    (C) A business tax identification number or, if the 
                high-volume third-party seller does not have a business 
                tax identification number, a taxpayer identification 
                number.
                    (D) Whether the high-volume third-party seller is 
                exclusively advertising or offering the consumer 
                product or products on the online marketplace, or if 
                the high-volume third-party seller is currently 
                advertising or offering for sale the same consumer 
                product or products on any other internet websites 
                other than the online marketplace.
            (2) Ongoing verification.--
                    (A) The online marketplace shall verify the 
                information provided in paragraph (1) within 3 days, 
                and shall verify within 3 days any changes to such 
                information that is provided to the marketplace by a 
                high-volume third-party seller. If a high-volume third-
                party seller provides a copy of a valid government-
                issued tax document, information contained within such 
                tax document shall be presumed to be verified as of the 
                date of issuance of such record or document.
                    (B) The online marketplace shall, on at least an 
                annual basis, notify each high-volume third-party 
                seller on the online marketplace that the seller must 
                inform the online marketplace of any changes to the 
                information provided by the seller pursuant to 
                paragraph (1) within 3 days of receiving the 
                notification and shall instruct each high-volume third-
                party seller, as part of the notification, to 
                electronically certify either that the seller's 
                information is unchanged or that the seller is 
                providing changes to the information. If the online 
                marketplace becomes aware that a high-volume third-
                party seller has neither certified that the seller's 
                information is unchanged nor has not provided such 
                changed information within 3 days of receiving such 
                notification, the online marketplace shall suspend the 
                high-volume third-party seller's participation on the 
                marketplace until the seller has either certified that 
                the seller's information is unchanged or has provided 
                such changed information and the information has been 
                verified.
    (b) Disclosure Required.--
            (1) In general.--Any online marketplace shall require a 
        high-volume third-party seller in such online marketplace to 
        provide, and shall disclose to consumers in a conspicuous 
        manner either on the product listing or, for information other 
        than the seller's full name, through a conspicuously placed 
        link on the product listing, the following information:
                    (A) Subject to paragraph (2), the identity of the 
                high-volume third-party seller which shall include--
                            (i) the full name of the seller;
                            (ii) the full physical address of the 
                        seller;
                            (iii) whether the seller also engages in 
                        the manufacturing, importing, or reselling of 
                        consumer products; and
                            (iv) contact information for the seller, 
                        including a working phone number and working 
                        email address. Such working email address may 
                        be provided to the high-volume third-party 
                        seller by the online marketplace.
                    (B) Any other information that the Commission 
                determines to be necessary to address circumvention or 
                evasion of the requirements of this paragraph, provided 
                that the additional information is limited to what is 
                necessary to address such circumvention or evasion.
            (2) Exception.--
                    (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), upon 
                the request of a high-volume third-party seller, an 
                online marketplace may provide for partial disclosure 
                of the identity information required under paragraph 
                (1)(A) in the following situations:
                            (i) If the high-volume third-party seller 
                        demonstrates to the online marketplace that the 
                        seller does not have a business address and 
                        only has a residential street address, the 
                        online marketplace may direct the high-volume 
                        third-party seller to disclose only the country 
                        and, if applicable, the State in which the 
                        high-volume third-party seller resides on the 
                        product listing, and may inform consumers that 
                        there is no business address available for the 
                        seller and that consumer inquiries should be 
                        submitted to the seller by phone or email.
                            (ii) If the high-volume third-party seller 
                        demonstrates to the online marketplace that the 
                        seller is a business that has a physical 
                        address for product returns, the online 
                        marketplace may direct the high-volume third-
                        party seller to disclose the seller's physical 
                        address for product returns.
                            (iii) If a high-volume third-party seller 
                        demonstrates to the online marketplace that the 
                        seller does not have a phone number other than 
                        a personal phone number, the online marketplace 
                        shall inform consumers that there is no phone 
                        number available for the seller and that 
                        consumer inquiries should be submitted to the 
                        seller's email address.
                    (B) Limitation on exception.--If an online 
                marketplace becomes aware that a high-volume third-
                party seller has made a false representation to the 
                online marketplace in order to justify the provision of 
                a partial disclosure under subparagraph (A) or that a 
                high-volume third-party seller who has requested and 
                received a provision for a partial disclosure under 
                subparagraph (A) has not provided responsive answers 
                within a reasonable timeframe to consumer inquiries 
                submitted to the seller by phone or email address, the 
                online marketplace shall withdraw its provision for 
                partial disclosure and require the full disclosure of 
                the high-volume third-party seller's identity 
                information required under paragraph (1)(A) upon 3 
                business days' notice to the high-volume third-party 
                seller.
            (3) Reporting mechanism.--An online marketplace shall 
        disclose to consumers, in a conspicuous manner on the product 
        listing of any high-volume third-party seller, a reporting 
        mechanism that allows for electronic and telephonic reporting 
        of suspicious marketplace activity to the online marketplace 
        and a message encouraging individuals seeking goods for 
        purchase to report suspicious activity to the online 
        marketplace.
    (c) Fulfillment or Shipment by Different Party Than Seller.--In 
addition to the requirements of subsection (b), an online marketplace 
that warehouses, distributes, or otherwise fulfills a consumer product 
order shall disclose to the consumer the identification of any high-
volume third-party seller supplying the consumer product if different 
than the seller listed on the product listing page.
    (d) Enforcement.--
            (1) Unfair and deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of 
        subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be treated as a violation of 
        a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice 
        prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade 
        Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)).
            (2) Powers of the commission.--
                    (A) In general.--The Commission shall enforce this 
                Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with the 
                same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 
                applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 
                Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated 
                into and made a part of this Act.
                    (B) Privileges and immunities.--Any person that 
                violates subsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be subject 
                to the penalties, and entitled to the privileges and 
                immunities, provided in the Federal Trade Commission 
                Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.).
            (3) Regulations.--The Federal Trade Commission may 
        promulgate regulations under section 553 of title 5, United 
        States Code, with respect to collecting and verifying 
        information under this section, provided that such regulations 
        are limited to what is necessary to collect and verify such 
        information.
            (4) Authority preserved.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
        construed to limit the authority of the Commission under any 
        other provision of law.
    (e) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Trade Commission.
            (2) Consumer product.--The term ``consumer product'' means 
        any tangible personal property which is distributed in commerce 
        and which is normally used for personal, family, or household 
        purposes (including any such property intended to be attached 
        to or installed in any real property without regard to whether 
        it is so attached or installed).
            (3) High-volume third-party seller.--The term ``high-volume 
        third-party seller'' means a participant in an online 
        marketplace who is a third-party seller and who, in any 
        continuous 12-month period during the previous 24 months, has 
        entered into 200 or more discrete sales or transactions of new 
        or unused consumer products resulting in the accumulation of an 
        aggregate total of $5,000 or more in gross revenues.
            (4) Online marketplace.--The term ``online marketplace'' 
        means any electronically based or accessed platform that--
                    (A) includes features that allow for, facilitate, 
                or enable third-party sellers to engage in the sale, 
                purchase, payment, storage, shipping, or delivery of a 
                consumer product in the United States; and
                    (B) hosts one or more third-party sellers.
            (5) Seller.--The term ``seller'' means a person who sells, 
        offers to sell, or contracts to sell a consumer product through 
        an online marketplace.
            (6) Third-party seller.--
                    (A) In general.--The term ``third-party seller'' 
                means any seller, independent of an operator, 
                facilitator, or owner of an online marketplace, who 
                sells, offers to sell, or contracts to sell a consumer 
                product in the United States through an online 
                marketplace.
                    (B) Exclusion.--The term ``third-party seller'' 
                does not include a seller who--
                            (i) is a business entity that has made 
                        available to the general public the entity's 
                        name, business address, and working contact 
                        information;
                            (ii) has an ongoing contractual 
                        relationship with the owner of the online 
                        marketplace to provide for the manufacture, 
                        distribution, wholesaling, or fulfillment of 
                        shipments of consumer products; and
                            (iii) has provided to the online 
                        marketplace identifying information, as 
                        described in subsection (a), that has been 
                        verified pursuant to that subsection.
            (7) Verify.--The term ``verify'' means to confirm 
        information provided to an online marketplace pursuant to this 
        section by the use of--
                    (A) a third-party or proprietary identity 
                verification system that has the capability to confirm 
                a seller's name, email address, physical address, and 
                phone number; or
                    (B) a combination of two-factor authentication, 
                public records search, and the presentation of a 
                government-issued identification.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
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