To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as recently amended by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004, to expedite the implementation of the country of origin labeling requirements of such Act, to impose certain recordkeeping requirements on retailers subject to such Act, to clarify the authority to impose civil penalties under such Act, and for other purposes.

March 18, 2004

Mrs. BONO (for herself and Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as recently amended by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004, to expedite the implementation of the country of origin labeling requirements of such Act, to impose certain recordkeeping requirements on retailers subject to such Act, to clarify the authority to impose civil penalties under such Act, 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 `Country-of-Origin Labeling Enhancement Act of 2004'.

SEC. 2. EXPEDITED IMPLEMENTATION OF COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING REQUIREMENTS.

Section 285 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638d), as amended by section 749 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004 (division A of Public Law 108-199; 118 Stat. 37), is amended by striking `September 30, 2006, except for `farm-raised fish' and `wild fish' which shall be September 30, 2004' and inserting `September 30, 2004'.

SEC. 3. MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS AND ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION.

Section 282 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a) is amended--

(1) in subsection (e), by adding at the end the following new sentence: `A retailer shall maintain records of country of origin information for not less than 180 days at a location selected by the retailer.'; and

(2) in subsection (f), by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following new paragraph:

`(1) National animal identification system- After the implementation of a national animal identification system, the Secretary shall use information collected under that system to augment verification under this section.'.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.

Section 283 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638b) is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the following new subsection:

`(c) Civil Money Penalties- If, on completion of the 30-day period described in subsection (b)(2) with respect to a retailer, the Secretary determines, after providing notice and an opportunity for a hearing, that the retailer knowingly violated section 282, the Secretary shall impose on the retailer a civil money penalty with respect to the violation. The amount of the civil money penalty for a violation may not exceed the product obtained by multiplying--

`(1) 5 percent of the average monthly retail price (as determined by the Secretary) of the commodity that is not labeled in accordance with this subtitle; by

`(2) the quantity of the commodity that is not labeled in accordance with this subtitle.'.

END