By: Walle H.B. No. 4443
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the disclosure of information by online marketplaces to
inform consumers; creating a civil penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 12, Business & Commerce Code, is amended by
adding Chapter 608 to read as follows:
Chapter 608. Online Marketplace Disclosure
Sec. 608.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the
Online Marketplace Disclosure Act.
Sec. 608.002. PURPOSE. The purpose of this chapter is to
protect consumers from purchasing stolen and counterfeit
merchandise on the Internet.
Sec. 608.003. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Consumer product" means any tangible personal
property which is distributed in commerce and which is normally
used for personal, family, or household purposes, including any
such property intended to be attached to or installed in any real
property without regard to whether it is so attached or installed.
(2) "High volume third-party seller" means a
participant in an online marketplace who is a third-party seller
and who, in any continuous 12 month period during the previous 24
months, has entered into 200 or more discrete sales or transactions
of new or unused consumer products resulting in the accumulation of
an aggregate total of $5,00 or more in gross revenues.
(3) "Online marketplace" means any electronically
based or accessed platform that:
(a) includes features that allow for,
facilitate, or enable third party sellers to engage in the sale,
purchase, payment, storage, shipping, or delivery of a consumer
product in the United States; and
(b) hosts one or more third party sellers.
(4) "Seller" means a person who sells, offers to sell,
or contracts to sell a consumer product through an online
marketplace.
(5) "Third-party seller" means any seller,
independent of an operator, facilitator, or owner of an online
marketplace, who sells, offers to sell, or contracts to sell a
consumer product in the United States through an online
marketplace.
(6) "Verify" means to confirm information provided to
an online marketplace pursuant to this section.
Sec. 608.004. VERIFICATION REQUIRED. An online marketplace
shall require that any high-volume third party seller on the online
marketplace provide the online marketplace with the following
information within 24 hours of becoming a high-volume seller:
(a) bank account information;
(b) contact information;
(c) business tax identification number or if a
high-volume third party seller does not possess a business tax
identification number, a tax identification number; and
(d) any other websites or online marketplaces the
high-volume third party seller is currently offering the consumer
products for sale or advertising the consumer products.
Sec. 608.005. DISCLOSURE REQUIRED. Any online marketplace
shall require a high-volume third party seller:
(a) to provide identifying information to the online
marketplace; and
(b) to provide a conspicuously placed link that
identifies the third-party high volume seller to consumers.
Sect. 608.006. ENFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL. The
attorney general shall enforce this chapter. The attorney general
may:
(a) recover a civil penalty of $10,000 for each
violation of this chapter; and
(b) seek equitable relief to restrain a violation of
this chapter.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect September 1, 2021.