[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1166 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1166

 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for more effective 
 enforcement of the Federal prohibition on the interstate shipment of 
                stolen property, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2009

Mr. Scott of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for more effective 
 enforcement of the Federal prohibition on the interstate shipment of 
                stolen property, and for other purposes.

    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 ``E-fencing Enforcement Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDING AND DECLARATION.

    The Congress finds and declares that--
            (1) the knowing participation, including by willful 
        blindness, in a scheme to fence specific goods the participant 
        knows are stolen, if the scheme involves the shipment of those 
        goods in interstate or foreign commerce, including a knowing 
        participation by providing a marketplace through the Internet 
        for those goods, is a violation of section 2314 of title 18, 
        United States Code, and should be vigorously prosecuted by the 
        Department of Justice; and
            (2) the Department of Justice should normally consider 
        compliance with this Act as a negation of culpability under 
        that section.

SEC. 3. E-FENCING ENFORCEMENT.

    (a) Improving Enforcement.--Chapter 113 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 2324. E-fencing enforcement
    ``(a) Duty To Provide Information.--It shall be the duty of each 
online marketplace provider to disclose contact information for any 
high volume seller to any inquirer with standing under this section to 
seek that information.
    ``(b) Duty To Retain Information About High Volume Sellers.--It 
shall be the duty of each online marketplace provider to retain contact 
information for three years after receipt of that information from high 
volume seller.
    ``(c) Take-Down Requirement.--Upon the request of a recipient of 
contact information under this section, it shall be the duty of the 
provider to determine, based on information reasonably available to it 
or that could be obtained by the provider without undue expense, 
whether the goods or items were lawfully acquired. If the provider 
determines that there is good reason to believe the goods or items were 
unlawfully acquired, it shall be the duty of the provider to preclude 
access by the high volume seller to the online marketplace with respect 
to those goods or items.
    ``(d) Civil Action for Failure To Comply.--Any person aggrieved by 
a failure of an Internet marketplace provider to comply with this 
section may, in a civil action, obtain appropriate relief.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `online marketplace' means an Internet site 
        where persons other than the operator of the Internet site can 
        enter into transactions for the sale of goods or other items 
        if--
                    ``(A) the goods or items are promoted through 
                inclusion in search results displayed within the site; 
                and
                    ``(B) the operator of the site has the contractual 
                right to supervise those transactions and a financial 
                interest in the sale of the goods or items;
            ``(2) the term `contact information' means the name, 
        telephone number, and address at which legal process could be 
        served;
            ``(3) the term `high volume seller' means any person who, 
        through the online marketplace, sells or offers for sale goods 
        or items--
                    ``(A) of a value of $5,000 or more in any single 
                offering; or
                    ``(B) of a value of $12,000 or more in one or more 
                offerings during the course of the preceding 365 days; 
                and
            ``(4) the term `inquirer with standing under this section 
        to seek' means any person who provides to the online 
        marketplace provider a signed report made to or received from a 
        criminal law enforcement agency reporting the unsolved theft 
        from that person during the preceding 365 days of goods 
        matching the description of those offered on the online 
        marketplace after the theft.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
chapter 113 of title 18 , United States Code , is amended by adding at 
the end the following new item:

``2324. E-fencing enforcement.''.
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