Collection, Verification, and Disclosure of Information By Online Marketplaces to Inform Consumers

Floor Speech

I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5502, the INFORM Consumers Act.

This is a big deal, Mr. Speaker. It really is. We worked really hard to get consensus on this particular bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee.

I commend the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee; the ranking member, Cathy McMorris Rodgers; and the chair of the subcommittee, my colleague, Jan Schakowsky. She is the lead sponsor of the bill, and I am the Republican sponsor of the bill. It is a great accomplishment.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when physical storefronts were unable to open their doors, many consumers turned to online marketplaces for all of their goods. However, with such a rise in online purchases, criminals saw a new way to prey upon innocent consumers.

These storefronts were now bombarded with thousands of similar products with little to no information about the background of the goods. Some of the goods available were originally stolen from retail stores, counterfeited--and this happens in all our congressional districts--counterfeited from a foreign nation, or even made with dangerous components or forced labor.

That is why this bipartisan, bicameral legislation is necessary to increase transparency and safety online, and I am proud to help co-lead this bill with the chairwoman of the subcommittee, Ms. Schakowsky.

If H.R. 5502 is signed into law--and I think it will be--consumers and storefronts will be armed with information to understand where these products come from and whether they are real or not. That is not much to ask for.

It also provides protections to our small sellers and local mom-and- pop stores whose privacy is protected while also being able to operate with clear guidelines and one set of rules for doing business in all 50 States.

The INFORM Consumers Act establishes a uniform national standard to protect consumers from bad actors and online marketplaces by requiring certain large sellers of new and used consumer goods to verify their contact information, such as email, phone number, and business tax ID, within days of being listed as a high-volume seller on an online platform.

I thank, again, Chairwoman Schakowsky, for working with me in good faith to make this a strong product with broad consensus from Congress--it takes both parties to get these things done--and from a diverse set of stakeholders like Etsy, Poshmark, eBay, Amazon, but also retail industry leaders such as Home Depot, Walgreens, and Walmart.

The support around this legislation demonstrates what happens when Congress works together to move important legislation that will protect all Americans. That was our goal. I am glad to see that this bill will move forward in regular order, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation out of the House today. Let's get this signed into law as soon as possible.

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Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the staff for doing an outstanding job on this bill. It was not easy to find consensus, but we persevered. We did not give up. We didn't give up, and guess what? The American people are going to be benefiting from this. That is the most important thing. Our constituents will benefit from this bill.

Again, my subcommittee staffer, Tim Kurth, has done an outstanding job, along with the other members of the staff and Jan's staff, as well.

Mr. Speaker, I hope we pass this bill unanimously, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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