[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1359 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1359

 To allow manufacturers to meet warranty and labeling requirements for 
  consumer products by displaying the terms of warranties on Internet 
                   websites, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 14, 2015

  Mrs. Fischer (for herself and Mr. Nelson) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To allow manufacturers to meet warranty and labeling requirements for 
  consumer products by displaying the terms of warranties on Internet 
                   websites, 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-Warranty Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Many manufacturers and consumers prefer to have the 
        option to provide or receive warranty information online.
            (2) Modernizing warranty notification rules is necessary to 
        allow the United States to continue to compete globally in 
        manufacturing, trade, and the development of consumer products 
        connected to the Internet.
            (3) Allowing an electronic warranty option would expand 
        consumer access to relevant consumer information in an 
        environmentally friendly way, and would provide additional 
        flexibility to manufacturers to meet their labeling and 
        warranty requirements.

SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC DISPLAY OF TERMS OF WRITTEN WARRANTY FOR CONSUMER 
              PRODUCTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 102(b) of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty--
Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act (15 U.S.C. 2302(b)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(4)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the rules 
prescribed under this subsection shall allow for the satisfaction of 
all requirements concerning the availability of terms of a written 
warranty on a consumer product under this subsection by--
            ``(i) making available such terms in an accessible digital 
        format on the Internet website of the manufacturer of the 
        consumer product in a clear and conspicuous manner; and
            ``(ii) providing to the consumer (or prospective consumer) 
        information with respect to how to obtain and review such terms 
        by indicating on the product or product packaging or in the 
        product manual--
                    ``(I) the Internet website of the manufacturer 
                where such terms can be obtained and reviewed; and
                    ``(II) the phone number of the manufacturer, the 
                postal mailing address of the manufacturer, or another 
                reasonable non-Internet based means of contacting the 
                manufacturer to obtain and review such terms.
    ``(B) With respect to any requirement that the terms of any written 
warranty on a consumer product be made available to the consumer (or 
prospective consumer) prior to sale of the product, in a case in which 
a consumer product is offered for sale in a retail location, by 
catalog, or through door-to-door sales, subparagraph (A) shall only 
apply if the seller makes available at the location of the sale to the 
consumer purchasing the consumer product the terms of the warranty on 
the consumer product before the purchase.''.
    (b) Revision of Rules.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Federal Trade Commission shall 
        revise the rules prescribed under such section to comply with 
        the requirements of paragraph (4) of such section, as added by 
        subsection (a) of this section.
            (2) Authority to waive requirement for oral presentation.--
        In revising rules under paragraph (1), the Federal Trade 
        Commission may waive the requirement of section 109(a) of such 
        Act (15 U.S.C. 2309(a)) to give interested persons an 
        opportunity for oral presentation if the Commission determines 
        that giving interested persons such opportunity would interfere 
        with the ability of the Commission to revise rules under 
        paragraph (1) in a timely manner.
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