H.R. 868 (103rd): Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act

Introduced:
Feb 04, 1993 (103rd Congress, 1993–1994)
Sponsor:
Rep. Allan Swift [D-WA2]
Status:
Signed by the President
Slip Law:
This bill became Pub.L. 103-297.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

(About Ads | Go Ad-Free for $5)
Status

This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on August 16, 1994.

Progress
Introduced Feb 04, 1993
Referred to Committee Feb 04, 1993
Reported by Committee Feb 23, 1993
Passed House Mar 02, 1993
Passed Senate with Changes Jun 30, 1993
Passed Senate Aug 02, 1994
Signed by the President Aug 16, 1994
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Mar 02, 1993 3:38 p.m.
Passed 411/3

Cosponsors
3 cosponsors (2R, 1D) (show)
Committees

House Energy and Commerce

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To strengthen the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers in connection with sales made with a telephone, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jan 01, 1994.
7 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.

Citation

Click a format for a citation suggestion:

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

7/25/1994--House agreed to Senate amendment with amendment.
Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act - Directs the Federal Trade Commission to prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive telemarketing acts or practices and other abusive telemarketing acts or practices.
Requires such rules to include:
(1) a requirement that telemarketers not make unsolicited calls in a pattern which a reasonable customer would consider coercive or abusive of the customer's right to privacy;
(2) restrictions on the times of day and night when unsolicited calls can be made to consumers; and
(3) a requirement that any telephone solicitor shall promptly and clearly disclose the purpose of the call.
Directs the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to promulgate similar rules regarding telemarketing by brokers and dealers, unless Federal laws or rules adopted by such Commissions provide protection or such rules are not necessary or appropriate in the public interest.
Requires such Commissions to publish reasons for allowing any exception.
Section 4 -
Permits the attorney general of any State, whenever there is reason to believe that the interests of a State's residents are adversely affected because of a telemarketing practice which violates rules promulgated pursuant to this Act, to bring a civil action to enjoin such telemarketing and to obtain damages and other appropriate relief.
Section 5 -
Permits similar actions by any person adversely affected by violations of the rules promulgated pursuant to this Act, if the amount in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $50,000 in actual damages for each person adversely affected.
Section 8 -
Amends the Federal Trade Commission Act to make it unlawful to disseminate by U.S. mails or by any means false advertisements concerning services.
Section 9 -
Permits the Federal Trade Commission, until two years following the promulgation of rules under this Act, to bring a criminal contempt action for violations of orders of the Commission obtained in false advertising cases.
Section 10 -
Provides for the review of the implementation of this Act, five years following the promulgation of rules, and for a report to the Congress.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)