[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5081 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5081

 To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to prohibit retailers 
from designating the United States as the country of origin of foreign 
                     beef, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2023

  Ms. Hageman (for herself, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Williams of New York, Mrs. 
 Boebert, and Mr. Blumenauer) introduced the following bill; which was 
                referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to prohibit retailers 
from designating the United States as the country of origin of foreign 
                     beef, 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 
Enforcement Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING FOR BEEF.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 281 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (7) as 
        paragraphs (2) through (8), respectively;
            (2) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so redesignated) 
        the following:
            ``(1) Beef.--The term `beef' means meat produced from 
        cattle (including veal).'';
            (3) in paragraph (2)(A)(i) (as so redesignated), by 
        striking ``lamb and venison'' and inserting ``beef, lamb, and 
        venison''; and
            (4) in paragraph (2)(A)(ii) (as so redesignated), by 
        striking ``ground lamb and ground venison'' and inserting 
        ``ground beef, ground lamb, and ground venison''.
    (b) Notice of Country of Origin.--Section 282(a) of the 
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a(a)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Designation of country of origin for beef.--A 
        retailer of a covered commodity that is beef may designate the 
        covered commodity as exclusively having a United States country 
        of origin only if the covered commodity is derived from an 
        animal that was exclusively born, raised, slaughtered, and 
        packaged in the United States.''.
    (c) Enforcement.--Section 283(b) of the Agricultural Marketing Act 
of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638b(b)) is amended by striking ``$1,000 for each 
violation'' and inserting ``$1,000 for each violation (or in the case 
of a covered commodity that is beef, $5,000 for each pound of beef not 
in compliance with the requirements of section 282)''.
    (d) Rule of Construction.--No ruling by the World Trade 
Organization or by any other international organization of which the 
United States is a member that is established before, on, or after the 
date of enactment of this Act may be construed to limit, alter, or 
affect the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture to require country 
of origin labeling in accordance with the amendments made by this 
section.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON FALSE LABELING OF FOREIGN BEEF AS ORIGINATING IN THE 
              UNITED STATES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to 
Congress a report on the false labeling of foreign beef as originating 
in the United States.
    (b) Elements.--The report referred to in subsection (a) shall 
include the following:
            (1) An assessment of how much beef was sold in the United 
        States during the 10-year period beginning on January 1, 2013, 
        that was falsely labeled as having a country of origin of the 
        United States.
            (2) With respect to the 10-year period beginning on January 
        1, 2013, an assessment of--
                    (A) which packers falsely labeled beef as 
                originating in the United States; and
                    (B) in the case of beef so falsely labeled, the 
                correct country of origin.
            (3) An assessment of the extent of economic losses 
        sustained by United States ranchers during the 10-year period 
        beginning on January 1, 2013, because consumers unknowingly 
        purchased beef with a foreign country of origin under the 
        assumption that such beef originated in the United States.
    (c) False Labeling Defined.--In this section, the terms ``false 
labeling'' and ``falsely labeled'' mean, with respect to the labeling 
of beef, labeling such beef as exclusively having a United States 
country of origin in a manner that does not meet the criteria specified 
in paragraph (5) of section 282(a) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638a(a)) (as added by section 2(b) of this Act).
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