Total Recall Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3724 To require greater notification to the public regarding product recalls, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 4, 2021 Ms. MENG 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Total Recall Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds that— 6 (1) the safety of the consumers in the United 7 States relies on the effectiveness of a company’s out- 8 reach; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3724 IH (2) there are at least 400 products recalled 1 each year by the Consumer Product Safety Commis- 2 sion; and 3 (3) according to the Commission, the average 4 response rate of consumers for most product recalls 5 is between 4 and 18 percent. 6 SEC. 3. INCREASED NOTIFICATION ABOUT RECALLS BY 7 COMPANIES PARTICIPATING IN RECALLS. 8 (a) MANDATING PUBLIC NOTICE AND INCLUDING 9 IMPORTERS.—Section 15 of the Consumer Product Safety 10 Act (15 U.S.C. 2064)— 11 (1) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘the Com- 12 mission may order’’ and inserting ‘‘the Commission 13 shall order’’; and 14 (2) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘any dis- 15 tributor or retailer of the product’’ and inserting 16 ‘‘any importer distributor, or retailer of the product 17 to cease distribution of the product or’’ 18 (b) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 19 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 15(d) of such 20 Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) is further amended— 21 (A) by redesignating paragraph (3) as 22 paragraph (4); 23 (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 24 following new paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3724 IH ‘‘(3) The Commission may not approve an action plan 1 submitted pursuant to paragraph (2) unless such action 2 plan provides that the person submitting the action plan 3 has performed or will perform the following: 4 ‘‘(A) Not later than the expiration of the 365- 5 day period starting on the date the Commission ap- 6 proves the action plan, spending on advertising the 7 recall of the product subject to the order, using 8 methods including those determined by the Commis- 9 sion for conducting recalls, an amount equal to the 10 greater of— 11 ‘‘(i)(I) at least 25 percent of the dollar 12 amount spent by such person in the 12-month 13 period during which such person spent the 14 greatest amount on traditional marketing (not 15 including marketing through the internet) of 16 the product; plus 17 ‘‘(II) at least the total dollar amount spent 18 by such person marketing the product through 19 the internet; or 20 ‘‘(ii) if the product was part of a subscrip- 21 tion service, at least 5 percent of the dollar 22 amount spent by such person marketing the 23 subscription service under which the product 24 was sold. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3724 IH ‘‘(B) Submitting to the Commission such evi- 1 dence the Commission determines adequate to show 2 that such person has complied with the requirements 3 in subparagraph (A). 4 ‘‘(C) Posting in a clear and conspicuous man- 5 ner the notice described in subsection (c)(1)(D) on 6 any internet website maintained by such person until 7 the participation rate in the recall that is the subject 8 of the notice is at least 95 percent. 9 ‘‘(D) Posting to each social media platform 10 maintained by such person the notice subsection 11 (c)(1)(D), or a description of such notice and a link 12 to such notice, at least 5 times each calendar month 13 for the 12 months after the Commission has ap- 14 proved the action plan.’’; and 15 (C) by adding at the end the following new 16 paragraph: 17 ‘‘(5) In this subsection— 18 ‘‘(A) the term ‘social media platform’ means a 19 website or internet medium that— 20 ‘‘(i) permits a person to become a reg- 21 istered user, establish an account, or create a 22 profile for the purpose of allowing users to cre- 23 ate, share, and view user-generated content 24 through such an account or profile; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3724 IH ‘‘(ii) enables one or more users to generate 1 content that can be viewed by other users of the 2 medium; and 3 ‘‘(iii) primarily serves as a medium for 4 users to interact with content generated by 5 other users of the medium; and 6 ‘‘(B) the term ‘subscription service’ means a 7 service under which two or more consumer products 8 are sold to consumers that does not permit the con- 9 sumer to select each product comprising an indi- 10 vidual package.’’. 11 (2) TOLLING OF EXPENDITURES.—Paragraph 12 (4) of section 15(d) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064(d)) 13 (as redesignated by section 3(b)(1)(A) of this Act) 14 is amended by adding at the end the following new 15 subparagraph: 16 ‘‘(D) If the Commission revokes its approval of the 17 action plan, the running of the 365-day period in para- 18 graph (3)(A) shall be tolled. If the Commission approves 19 an alternative action plan to the action plan for which ap- 20 proval was revoked, the time period for completing the ex- 21 penditures as required by paragraph (3)(A) for such alter- 22 native action plan shall not exceed the number of days 23 that did not elapse under such 365-day period.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3724 IH (c) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS APPLY TO SET- 1 TLEMENT OFFERS.—Section 15(f) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2 2064(f)) is amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (1)— 4 (A) by striking ‘‘Any settlement’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘Subject to paragraph (2), any settle- 6 ment’’; and 7 (B) by striking ‘‘unless the settlement 8 offer is clearly frivolous or duplicative of offers 9 previously made’’; 10 (2) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para- 11 graph (4); and 12 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 13 lowing new paragraphs: 14 ‘‘(2) A settlement offer described in paragraph (1) 15 may not be transmitted if such offer— 16 ‘‘(A) is clearly frivolous; 17 ‘‘(B) is duplicative of offers previously made; or 18 ‘‘(C) does not obligate the manufacturer, dis- 19 tributor, importer, or retailer that is a party to such 20 offer to perform the actions in subparagraphs (A) 21 and (B) of subsection (k)(1). 22 ‘‘(3) At the outset of a hearing under this subsection, 23 the Commission shall recommend that a manufacturer, 24 distributor, importer, or retailer that is or becomes a party 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3724 IH to a settlement offer perform the actions described in sub- 1 section (d)(3).’’. 2 (d) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION NOTIFICA- 3 TION.—Section 15 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2064) is further 4 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 5 section: 6 ‘‘(k) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 7 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS.—Any voluntary correc- 8 tive action taken by a manufacturer, distributor, im- 9 porter, or retailer in consultation with the Commis- 10 sion relating to a product described in subsection (b) 11 may be determined by the Commission as a suffi- 12 cient remedial measure only if, as part of such vol- 13 untary corrective action— 14 ‘‘(A) such manufacturer, distributor, im- 15 porter, or retailer provides the notice required 16 by subsection (c); and 17 ‘‘(B) such notice is posted in the manner 18 required by subparagraphs (C) and (D) of sub- 19 section (d)(3). 20 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—When a manufac- 21 turer, distributor, importer, or retailer informs the 22 Commission that it will take voluntary corrective ac- 23 tion in consultation with the Commission, the Com- 24 mission shall recommend that such manufacturer, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3724 IH distributor, importer, or retailer perform the actions 1 described in subsection (d) as part of the voluntary 2 corrective action.’’. 3 SEC. 4. APPLICABILITY. 4 (a) ACTION PLANS AND SETTLEMENT OFFERS.— 5 The amendments made by subsections (a) through (c) of 6 section 3 shall only apply to action plans initiated under 7 section 15(d) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 8 U.S.C. 2064(d)) and settlement offers submitted under 9 section 15(f) of such Act, (15 U.S.C. 2064(f)) on or after 10 the date of enactment of this Act. 11 (b) VOLUNTARY CORRECTIVE ACTION.—The amend- 12 ments made by subsection (d) of section 3 shall only apply 13 to voluntary corrective actions about which the Consumer 14 Product Safety Commission is initially informed on or 15 after the date of enactment of this Act. 16 SEC. 5. RECALL PARTICIPATION RATES REPORTED TO 17 CONGRESS. 18 (a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Section 27(j) of the 19 Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2076(j)) is 20 amended— 21 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 22 inserting after ‘‘and the Congress’’ the following: ‘‘, 23 and shall make publicly available on its website,’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3724 IH (2) in paragraph (12)(F), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1 the end; 2 (3) by redesignating paragraph (13) as para- 3 graph (14); and 4 (4) by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol- 5 lowing new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(13) for each recall initiated or ongoing during 7 the reporting period that is pursuant to an order 8 under section 15(d), a settlement agreement, or a 9 voluntary corrective action taken in consultation 10 with the Commission— 11 ‘‘(A) the number of products subject to the 12 recall sold; 13 ‘‘(B) the number of such products for 14 which a consumer has been remedied; 15 ‘‘(C) the number of consumers to whom a 16 notification has been made directly; and 17 ‘‘(D) the number of incidences of injuries 18 resulting from a product subject to the recall 19 occurring after the initiation of the recall that 20 are reported to the Commission; and’’. 21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 22 this section shall apply on the first day of the first fiscal 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3724 IH year which begins after the date of the enactment of this 1 Act. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:40 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3724.IH H3724 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS