HR 3646 · 112th Congress 2011–2013, ended

Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2011

Introduced Dec 13, 2011 Originated House Sponsor Betty Sutton D-OH

Latest action · Jan 17, 2012 Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture .

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedDec 13, 2011
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2011 - Directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (with respect to drugs, devices, cosmetics, and biological products), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) (with respect to consumer products), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (with respect to chemical substances, new chemical substances, and pesticides), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (with respect to a motor vehicle or motor vehicle products) to require foreign manufacturers and producers of such products (or components used to manufacture them), in excess of a minimum value, quantity, and frequency of importation, to register an agent in the United States who is authorized to accept service of process on their behalf for the purpose of any state or federal regulatory proceeding or civil action in state or federal court.

Deems a foreign manufacturer or producer of products covered under this Act that registers an agent to consent to the personal jurisdiction of the state or federal courts of the state in which the agent is located for the purpose of any judicial proceeding.

Requires any person who imports into the United States a covered product manufactured or produced outside the United States to make to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) a declaration that, to the best of the person's knowledge, with respect to the importation of each covered product, the foreign manufacturer or producer of the product has registered an agent in the United States. Subjects to certain penalties an importer who fails to provide this or files a false declaration.

Requires foreign manufacturers or producers of a covered product to report within five business days to the head of the applicable agency their determination to conduct a safety recall or other safety campaign of a covered product that is identical or substantially similar to a covered product offered for sale in the United States.

Requires the Secretary of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to study jointly the feasibility and advisability of requiring foreign producers of food distributed in commerce to register an agent in the United States who is authorized to accept service of process on behalf of such producers for the purpose of any state or federal regulatory proceeding or civil action in state or federal court.

Requires the head of an applicable agency similarly to study the feasibility of methods requiring foreign manufacturers or producers of component parts of covered products distributed in U.S. commerce to register agents in the United States for purposes of such service of process.

Requires the Comptroller General to study methods to enforce judgments of any state or federal regulatory proceeding or civil action in state or federal court against Chinese manufacturers that exported defective drywall to the United States during 2004-2007.

Cosponsors 28

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Dec 13, 2011 to Jul 30, 2012; 23 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-FL	Alcee L. Hastings	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-CT	Christopher Murphy	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-IL	Daniel Lipinski	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-CA	Fortney Pete Stark	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-MI	Gary C. Peters	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-TX	Gene Green	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-GA	Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-IL	Janice D. Schakowsky	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-CT	Joe Courtney	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-KY	John A. Yarmuth	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-MI	John Conyers, Jr.	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-MD	John P. Sarbanes	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-CA	Linda T. Sánchez	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-OH	Marcy Kaptur	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-PA	Mark S. Critz	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-ME	Michael H. Michaud	Original	Dec 13, 2011
R-OH	Michael R. Turner	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-NJ	Robert E. Andrews	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-NY	Steve Israel	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-PA	Tim Holden	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-OH	Tim Ryan	Original	Dec 13, 2011
R-NC	Walter B. Jones	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-CA	Zoe Lofgren	Original	Dec 13, 2011
D-IA	Bruce L. Braley		Jan 18, 2012
D-WI	Tammy Baldwin		Feb 15, 2012
D-MN	Keith Ellison		Feb 29, 2012
D-AZ	Raúl M. Grijalva		Mar 7, 2012
D-MA	John F. Tierney		Jul 30, 2012

Committees 3

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Energy and Commerce Committee	Referred Dec 13, 2011
	Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee	Referred Dec 16, 2011
House	Ways and Means Committee	Referred Dec 13, 2011
	Trade Subcommittee	Referred Dec 22, 2011
House	Agriculture Committee	Referred Dec 13, 2011
	Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee	Referred Jan 17, 2012

Actions 5

Everything that happened, newest first.

Jan 17, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture .
Dec 22, 2011Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
Dec 16, 2011Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.
Dec 13, 2011Introduced in House
Dec 13, 2011Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H8880.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 1946	Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2011	Related bill	Dec 5, 2011

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To require foreign manufacturers of products imported into the United States to establish registered agents in the United States who are authorized to accept service of process against such manufacturers, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced: Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2011

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Law.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Dec 13, 2011Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.