I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1284
To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to increase civil penalties for, and improve
enforcement with respect to, customs fraud, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mr. B
OST(for himself, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. MORAN, Ms. TENNEY, Ms. VAN
D
UYNE, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. MRVAN, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. PALMER, Ms.
B
UDZINSKI, Mr. PANETTA, and Mr. CAREY) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to increase civil penalties
for, and improve enforcement with respect to, customs
fraud, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fighting Trade Cheats 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. INCREASE IN CIVIL PENALTIES FOR FRAUDULENT 1
AND GROSSLY NEGLIGENT VIOLATIONS OF 2
UNITED STATES CUSTOMS LAWS. 3
Section 592 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 4
1592) is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (a)— 6
(A) by redesignating paragraph (2) as 7
paragraph (3); and 8
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 9
following: 10
‘‘(2) P
RESUMPTION.— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of para-12
graph (1)(B), if a person purchases merchan-13
dise from two or more affiliated persons after 14
such persons are determined by U.S. Customs 15
and Border Protection or a court of competent 16
jurisdiction to have violated subsection (a) by 17
means of fraud or gross negligence, there shall 18
be a presumption that the purchaser had knowl-19
edge of such violation with respect to purchases 20
from the second or subsequent such affiliated 21
person. 22
‘‘(B) A
FFILIATED PERSON DEFINED .—In 23
subparagraph (A), the term ‘affiliated person’ 24
has the meaning given that term in section 25
771(33).’’; and 26
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(2) in subsection (c)— 1
(A) in paragraph (1)— 2
(i) by striking ‘‘A fraudulent viola-3
tion’’ and inserting the following: 4
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A fraudulent viola-5
tion’’; 6
(ii) in subparagraph (A) (as so des-7
ignated), by inserting before ‘‘the domestic 8
value’’ the following: ‘‘three times’’; and 9
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL PENALTIES .—A per-12
son— 13
‘‘(i) that commits a fraudulent viola-14
tion of subsection (a) shall be prohibited 15
from importing merchandise into the 16
United States during a period of five years 17
beginning on the date of entry of a final 18
judgment with respect to such violation; 19
and 20
‘‘(ii) that is an affiliated person of a 21
person described in clause (i) shall be pro-22
hibited from importing merchandise into 23
the United States during the period de-24
scribed in such clause. 25
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‘‘(C) AFFILIATED PERSON DEFINED .—In 1
subparagraph (B)(ii), the term ‘affiliated per-2
son’ has the meaning given that term in section 3
771(33).’’; and 4
(B) in paragraph (2)— 5
(i) by striking ‘‘A grossly negligent 6
violation’’ and inserting the following: 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A grossly negligent 8
violation’’; 9
(ii) by striking ‘‘(A) the lesser of—’’ 10
and inserting the following: 11
‘‘(i) the lesser of—’’; 12
(iii) by striking ‘‘(i) the domestic 13
value’’ and inserting the following: 14
‘‘(I) three times the domestic 15
value’’; 16
(iv) by striking ‘‘(ii) four times’’ and 17
inserting the following: 18
‘‘(II) 10 times’’; 19
(v) by striking ‘‘(B) if the violation’’ 20
and inserting the following: 21
‘‘(ii) if the violation’’; 22
(vi) in clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) 23
(as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘40 per-24
cent of’’ and inserting ‘‘three times’’; and 25
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(vii) by adding at the end the fol-1
lowing: 2
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL PENALTIES .—A per-3
son— 4
‘‘(i) that commits a grossly negligent 5
violation of subsection (a) shall be prohib-6
ited from importing merchandise into the 7
United States during a period of two years 8
beginning on the date of entry of a final 9
judgment with respect to such violation; 10
and 11
‘‘(ii) that is an affiliated person of a 12
person described in clause (i) shall be pro-13
hibited from importing merchandise into 14
the United States during the period de-15
scribed in such clause. 16
‘‘(C) A
FFILIATED PERSON DEFINED .—In 17
subparagraph (B)(ii), the term ‘affiliated per-18
son’ has the meaning given that term in section 19
771(33).’’. 20
SEC. 3. PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT ACTION FOR CUSTOMS 21
FRAUD. 22
The Tariff Act of 1930 is amended by inserting after 23
section 592A (19 U.S.C. 1592a) the following: 24
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‘‘SEC. 592B. PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT ACTION FOR CUS-1
TOMS FRAUD. 2
‘‘(a) C
IVILACTION.—An interested party the busi-3
ness, property, or other financial interest of which is in-4
jured by a fraudulent or grossly negligent violation of sec-5
tion 592(a) may bring a civil action against any person 6
that causes such injury, or any person that aids or abets 7
that person in violating section 592(a), in any United 8
States District Court located in a district in which the in-9
terested party has suffered injury, without regard to the 10
amount in controversy. 11
‘‘(b) R
ELIEF.—Upon proof by an interested party in 12
a civil action brought under subsection (a) that the busi-13
ness, property, or other financial interest of the interested 14
party has been injured by a fraudulent or grossly negligent 15
violation of section 592(a), the interested party shall— 16
‘‘(1)(A) recover compensatory damages equal to 17
the amount of such injury plus an additional penalty 18
equal to three times the amount of compensatory 19
damages; and 20
‘‘(B) be granted such equitable relief as may be 21
appropriate, which may include an injunction 22
against further importation into the United States 23
of the merchandise imported into the United States 24
in violation of section 592(a); and 25
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‘‘(2) recover the costs of bringing the civil ac-1
tion, including reasonable attorney’s fees. 2
‘‘(c) I
NTERVENTION BY THE UNITEDSTATES.— 3
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The court shall permit the 4
United States to intervene in an civil action brought 5
under subsection (a), as a matter of right. The 6
United States shall have all the rights of a party. 7
‘‘(2) S
HARING OF INFORMATION .—Upon a rea-8
sonable request by the United States Government, 9
any interested party that brings a civil action under 10
subsection (a) shall provide to the United States 11
Government— 12
‘‘(A) a copy of the complaint; 13
‘‘(B) any memoranda of law or briefing 14
filed with a court in support of the complaint 15
as of the date of the request; and 16
‘‘(C) if the United States Government 17
agrees to reimburse the interested party for all 18
reasonable costs and expenses associated with 19
responding to the request, any information ob-20
tained by the interested party through discovery 21
processes in the civil action as of the date of 22
the request. 23
‘‘(d) N
ULLIFICATION OF ORDER IN NATIONAL 24
E
MERGENCIES.—An order by a court under this section 25
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is subject to nullification by the President under the au-1
thority provided by section 203 of the International Emer-2
gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702). 3
‘‘(e) I
NTERESTEDPARTYDEFINED.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In this section, the term 5
‘interested party’ means— 6
‘‘(A) a manufacturer, producer, or whole-7
saler in the United States of like merchandise 8
or competing merchandise; 9
‘‘(B) a certified union or recognized union 10
or group of workers that is representative of an 11
industry engaged in the manufacture, produc-12
tion, or wholesale in the United States of like 13
merchandise or competing merchandise; or 14
‘‘(C) a trade or business association a ma-15
jority of the members of which manufacture, 16
produce, or wholesale like merchandise or com-17
peting merchandise in the United States. 18
‘‘(2) C
OMPETING MERCHANDISE .—For pur-19
poses of paragraph (1), the term ‘competing mer-20
chandise’ means merchandise that competes with or 21
is a substitute for merchandise being imported into 22
the United States in violation of section 592(a). 23
‘‘(3) L
IKE MERCHANDISE .—For purposes of 24
paragraph (1), the term ‘like merchandise’ means 25
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merchandise that is like, or in the absence of like, 1
most similar in characteristics and uses with, mer-2
chandise being imported into the United States in 3
violation of section 592(a).’’. 4
SEC. 4. EXCLUSION OF PERSONS THAT HAVE COMMITTED 5
FRAUDULENT OR GROSSLY NEGLIGENT VIO-6
LATIONS OF UNITED STATES CUSTOMS LAWS 7
FROM PARTICIPATION IN THE IMPORTER OF 8
RECORD PROGRAM. 9
Section 114 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade En-10
forcement Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4320) is amended— 11
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 12
subsection (d) and (e), respectively; and 13
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-14
lowing: 15
‘‘(c) E
XCLUSION.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The following persons shall 17
be ineligible to participate in the importer of record 18
program: 19
‘‘(A) Any person determined by U.S. Cus-20
toms and Border Protection or a court of com-21
petent jurisdiction to have committed a fraudu-22
lent or grossly negligent violation of section 23
592(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 24
1592(a)). 25
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‘‘(B) Any person that is an affiliated per-1
son of a person described in subparagraph (A). 2
‘‘(2) R
EVOCATION.—The Secretary shall revoke 3
the importer of record number assigned to any per-4
son under the importer of record program if the Sec-5
retary subsequently determines that the person is a 6
person described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of 7
paragraph (1). 8
‘‘(3) A
FFILIATED PERSON DEFINED .— 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes para-10
graph (1)(B), the term ‘affiliated person’ has 11
the meaning given that term in section 771(33) 12
of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(33)). 13
‘‘(B) D
EEMED AFFILIATED PERSONS .—In 14
order to prevent commercial fraud, protect the 15
revenue, and help prevent the use of shell com-16
panies by importers that seek to evade the cus-17
toms and trade laws of the United States, a 18
person may be deemed to be an affiliated per-19
son for purposes of paragraph (1)(B) based 20
upon information declared to U.S. Customs and 21
Border Protection suggesting a formal or ongo-22
ing relationship between that person and a per-23
son described in paragraph (1)(A), including 24
similarities in imported merchandise (including 25
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article classification upon importation), common 1
declared exporters and shippers, and historical 2
import volumes.’’. 3
Æ
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