Online Retailer Product Origin Disclosure Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6941 To require online retailers to prominently disclose product country-of-origin information, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 19, 2020 Mr. KINZINGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require online retailers to prominently disclose product country-of-origin information, 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Online Retailer Prod- 4 uct Origin Disclosure Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN NOTICE REQUIREMENTS FOR 6 ONLINE RETAILERS AND SELLERS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:18 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6941.IH H6941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6941 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that 1 is 180 days after the date of enactment of this 2 Act— 3 (A) it shall be unlawful for any person to 4 operate an online retail platform that does not 5 comply with the requirements of paragraph (2); 6 and 7 (B) it shall be unlawful for any person who 8 offers a product for sale through an online re- 9 tail platform to knowingly provide false infor- 10 mation to the platform with respect to the 11 country of origin of such product. 12 (2) COUNTRY-OF-ORIGIN DISCLOSURE REQUIRE- 13 MENTS.—The requirements of this paragraph, with 14 respect to an online retail platform, are the fol- 15 lowing: 16 (A) The online retail platform shall require 17 any person that intends to sell a product 18 through the platform to provide the platform 19 with information on the country of origin of 20 such product. 21 (B) With respect to any article of foreign 22 origin imported into the United States that is 23 subject to the country of origin and is offered 24 for sale on the online retail platform, the plat- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:18 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6941.IH H6941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6941 IH form discloses, in a conspicuous manner and in 1 the same language that is used on the rest of 2 the platform, the name of the country of origin. 3 (b) ENFORCEMENT.— 4 (1) UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC- 5 TICES.—A violation of this section shall be treated 6 as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or decep- 7 tive act or practice prescribed under section 8 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act 9 (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 10 (2) POWERS OF COMMISSION.— 11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 12 enforce this section in the same manner, by the 13 same means, and with the same jurisdiction, 14 powers, and duties as though all applicable 15 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 16 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in- 17 corporated into and made a part of this section. 18 (B) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any 19 person that violates this section shall be subject 20 to the penalties (including the provisions of sub- 21 sections (l) and (m) of section 5 of such Act), 22 and entitled to the privileges and immunities, 23 provided in the Federal Trade Commission Act 24 (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:18 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6941.IH H6941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6941 IH (3) CONSULTATION WITH U.S. CUSTOMS AND 1 BORDER PROTECTION.—In carrying out this section 2 and promulgating rules under this section, the Com- 3 mission shall consult with the Commissioner of U.S. 4 Customs and Border Protection. 5 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 7 means the Federal Trade Commission. 8 (2) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.—The term ‘‘country 9 of origin’’ means the following: 10 (A) In the case of a product wholly manu- 11 factured in one country, the English name of 12 that country. 13 (B) In the case of a product that was 14 made by assembling multiple products or prod- 15 uct components manufactured in other coun- 16 tries, the English name of the country that per- 17 formed the final assembly of the product com- 18 ponents before shipping as a marketed product. 19 (C) In the case of a product containing 20 technological components that are designed in 21 any way to receive, process, or transmit data, 22 or be connected to the internet, and during any 23 part of the production process that product or 24 product component was made or assembled in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:18 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6941.IH H6941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6941 IH the People’s Republic of China or the Russian 1 Federation, or at any facility that is majority- 2 owned by a citizen or agent of such country, the 3 English name of each such country, and any 4 country described in subparagraph (A) or (B), 5 as applicable. 6 (3) ONLINE RETAIL PLATFORM.—The term 7 ‘‘online retail platform’’ means any internet website 8 or other online platform through which products are 9 sold. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:18 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6941.IH H6941 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS