Anti-Counterfeit Law and TAA Now Passed

The Inform Consumers Act, which will require online platforms to verify high-volume third-party sellers, and to make those sellers' contact information available to the public, was included in the massive year-end spending bill that became law Dec. 23.

Fully titled the Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces Consumers Act, the legislation was first introduced in March 2021, but was adjusted to win support from Amazon. High-volume sellers are classified as those that have made 200 or more sales in the last 12 months, worth $5,000 or more. The online platforms also will be required to set up a hotline for consumers to report suspected counterfeit products.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., the House Commerce Committee Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee chairwoman, was its chief advocate in the House. She said the law "will help curb the onslaught of dangerous, counterfeit, and stolen products available to Americans shopping on online marketplaces." She also hailed the inclusion of the Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth Act, known as the Sturdy Act, which requires the Consumer Product Safety Commission to promulgate a rule for bureaus and dressers that would prevent tip-over injuries to children. That bill was first passed by the Energy and Commerce Committee in 2019 (see 1907170046).

"[T]he STURDY Act will keep dangerous furniture products that can injure and kill children off the market and out of our homes," she said in a Dec. 23 statement.

Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., also hailed the inclusion of the Inform Consumers Act in the more than 4,000-page omnibus. "By providing appropriate verification and transparency of high-volume third party sellers, the INFORM Consumers Act will shine a light that will deter online sales of stolen, counterfeit, and unsafe goods and protect consumers," Durbin said in a Dec. 20 press release.

“Criminal organizations are putting consumers in danger by tricking them into buying counterfeit and hazardous products online. The INFORM Act is crucial to protecting Americans from scammers on the internet,” Cassidy said in the same release.

The National Retail Federation, ahead of the vote in the House on Dec. 23, said, "On behalf of the retail industry, we are extremely pleased negotiators included the INFORM Act in the omnibus package."

The Inform Act had originally been attached to the defense authorization bill, the other piece of legislation moving at the end of Congress, but was stripped out for the second year in a row.

Another provision that slipped into the omnibus is not of direct consequence to importers, but may clear the way for action on the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill in early 2023. Democrats had not wanted to move those tariff preferences bills, which expired two years ago, without also moving a renewal of Trade Adjustment Assistance. On Dec. 23, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced a one-year renewal of TAA made it into the package.

“I fought to ensure the omnibus renewed funding for trade assistance, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to improve the program as part of a long-term package that addresses other expired trade initiatives as well," he said.