[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1145 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1145

   To require that perishable agricultural commodities be labeled or 
  marked as to their country of origin and to establish penalties for 
               violations of such labeling requirements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 1999

Mrs. Bono (for herself, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Bartlett of Maryland, Mr. 
 Bilirakis, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Bonior, Mr. Boyd, Mr. Brown of California, 
   Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Chambliss, Mrs. Chenoweth, Mr. 
    Condit, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Davis of Florida, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. 
  Delahunt, Mr. Deutsch, Mr. Diaz-Balart, Mr. Everett, Mr. Foley, Mr. 
  Goss, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Ms. Hooley of Oregon, Mr. Horn, Mr. 
Hunter, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. King, Mr. Kucinich, 
Mr. Leach, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Mica, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. 
   Miller of Florida, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mrs. Myrick, Mr. Ney, Mr. 
 Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Quinn, Ms. Rivers, Ms. Ros-
  Lehtinen, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Shows, Mr. 
Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Stump, Mrs. Thurman, Mr. Traficant, Mr. Weldon 
 of Florida, and Mr. Wexler) introduced the following bill; which was 
                referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require that perishable agricultural commodities be labeled or 
  marked as to their country of origin and to establish penalties for 
               violations of such labeling requirements.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Produce Consumers' Right-to-Know 
Act''.

SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING OF PERISHABLE AGRICULTURAL 
              COMMODITIES.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Food service establishment.--The term ``food service 
        establishment'' means a restaurant, cafeteria, lunch room, food 
        stand, saloon, tavern, bar, lounge, or other similar facility, 
        which is operated as an enterprise engaged in the business of 
        selling foods to the public.
            (2) Perishable agricultural commodity; retailer.--The terms 
        ``perishable agricultural commodity'' and ``retailer'' have the 
        meanings given the terms in section 1(b) of the Perishable 
        Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499a(b)).
    (b) Notice of Country of Origin Required.--Except as provided in 
subsection (c), a retailer of a perishable agricultural commodity shall 
inform consumers, at the final point of sale of the perishable 
agricultural commodity to consumers, of the country of origin of the 
perishable agricultural commodity. This requirement shall apply to 
imported and domestically produced perishable agricultural commodities.
    (c) Exemption for Food Service Establishments.--Subsection (b) 
shall not apply to a perishable agricultural commodity to the extent 
that the perishable agricultural commodity is--
            (1) prepared or served in a food service establishment; and
            (2)(A) offered for sale or sold at the food service 
        establishment in normal retail quantities; or
            (B) served to consumers at the food service establishment.
    (d) Method of Notification.--
            (1) In general.--The information required by subsection (b) 
        may be provided to consumers by means of a label, stamp, mark, 
        placard, or other clear and visible sign on the perishable 
        agricultural commodity or on the package, display, holding 
        unit, or bin containing the commodity at the final point of 
        sale to consumers.
            (2) Labeled commodities.--If a perishable agricultural 
        commodity is already individually labeled regarding country of 
        origin by a packer, importer, or another person, the retailer 
        shall not be required to provide any additional information to 
        comply with this section.
    (e) Violations.--If a retailer fails to indicate the country of 
origin of a perishable agricultural commodity as required by subsection 
(b), the Secretary of Agriculture may assess a civil penalty on the 
retailer in an amount not to exceed--
            (1) $1,000 for the first day on which the violation occurs; 
        and
            (2) $250 for each day on which the same violation 
        continues.
    (f) Deposit of Funds.--Amounts collected under subsection (e) shall 
be deposited in the Treasury of the United States as miscellaneous 
receipts.
    (g) Application of Section.--This section shall apply with respect 
to a perishable agricultural commodity offered for retail sale after 
the end of the 6-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
                                 <all>