I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1788
To prohibit the use of algorithmic systems by food producers to artificially
inflate the price or reduce the supply of their foods.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH3, 2025
Mr. F
ROSTintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary
A BILL
To prohibit the use of algorithmic systems by food producers
to artificially inflate the price or reduce the supply of
their foods.
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 ‘‘Fair Grocery Pricing 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
(1) C
HAIR.—The term ‘‘Chair’’ means the 8
Chair of the Commission. 9
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(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 1
means the Federal Trade Commission. 2
(3) C
ONSCIOUSLY PARALLEL PRICING COORDI -3
NATION.—The term ‘‘consciously parallel pricing co-4
ordination’’ means a tacit agreement between 2 or 5
more food producers to raise, lower, change, main-6
tain, or manipulate pricing for the purchase or sale 7
of reasonably interchangeable food products. 8
(4) C
OORDINATING FUNCTION .—The term ‘‘co-9
ordinating function’’ means— 10
(A) collecting historical or contempora-11
neous food product prices or supply levels from 12
2 or more food producers; 13
(B) analyzing or processing of the informa-14
tion described in subparagraph (A) using a sys-15
tem, software, or process that uses computa-16
tion, including by using that information to 17
train an algorithm; and 18
(C) recommending food prices, supply or 19
output, or other commercial term to a food pro-20
ducer. 21
(5) C
OORDINATOR.—The term ‘‘coordinator’’ 22
means any person that operates a software or data 23
analytics service that performs a coordinating func-24
tion for any food producer, including a food pro-25
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ducer performing a coordinating function for their 1
own benefit. 2
(6) F
OOD.—The term ‘‘food’’ has the meaning 3
given the term in the 321st section of the Food, 4
Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321). 5
(7) F
OOD PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘food pro-6
ducer’’ means any individual, corporation, or entity 7
engaged in the manufacturing, processing, or pro-8
duction of food products for commercial distribution. 9
(8) P
ERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ has the 10
meaning given the term in the 1st section of the 11
Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12). 12
(9) P
RE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT .— 13
The term ‘‘pre-dispute arbitration agreement’’ 14
means an agreement between 2 or more parties to 15
arbitrate a dispute between the parties that is made 16
before any dispute has arisen. 17
(10) P
RE-DISPUTE JOINT ACTION WAIVER .— 18
The term ‘‘pre-dispute joint action waiver’’ means 19
an agreement between 2 or more parties, which may 20
be part of a pre-dispute arbitration agreement, 21
that— 22
(A) would prohibit or waive the right of a 23
party to participate in a joint, class, or collec-24
tive action in a judicial, arbitral, administrative, 25
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or other forum relating to a dispute between 1
parties; and 2
(B) is made before any dispute has arisen. 3
(11) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 4
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 5
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or 6
possession of the United States. 7
SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL CONDUCT. 8
(a) I
NGENERAL.— 9
(1) C
ONTRACT OR CONSPIRACY IN RESTRAINT 10
OF TRADE.—It is unlawful for a food producer, in 11
or affecting commerce, or any agent or subcon-12
tractor thereof, to subscribe to, contract with, or 13
otherwise exchange anything of value or use in re-14
turn for the services of a coordinator, and such ac-15
tion shall be deemed to be a per se violation of the 16
Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.). 17
(2) F
ACILITATION.—It is unlawful for a coordi-18
nator, in or affecting commerce, to facilitate an 19
agreement among food producers to not compete 20
with respect to food prices, supply or output, or 21
other commercial term, including by performing a 22
coordinating function. 23
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 24
(a) E
NFORCEMENT.— 25
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(1) IN GENERAL.— 1
(A) F
EDERAL TRADE COMMISSION .—The 2
Commission shall enforce this Act in the same 3
manner, by the same means, and with the same 4
jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 5
applicable terms of the Federal Trade Commis-6
sion Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor-7
porated into and made a part of this Act. 8
(B) A
TTORNEY GENERAL .—The Attorney 9
General shall enforce this Act in the same man-10
ner, by the same means, and with the same ju-11
risdiction, powers, and duties as though all ap-12
plicable terms of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 13
1 et seq.), Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.), 14
and Antitrust Civil Process Act (15 U.S.C. 15
1311 et seq.) were incorporated into and made 16
a part of this Act. 17
(C) S
TATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL .—Any 18
attorney general of a State shall enforce this 19
Act in the same manner, by the same means, 20
and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and du-21
ties as though all applicable terms of the Sher-22
man Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and the Clayton 23
Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) were incorporated 24
into and made a part of this Act. 25
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(2) UNFAIR METHODS OF COMPETITION .—A 1
violation of this Act shall also constitute an unfair 2
method of competition under section 5 of the Fed-3
eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). 4
(3) I
NDEPENDENT LITIGATION AUTHORITY .—If 5
the Commission has reason to believe that a person 6
violated this Act, the Commission may commence a 7
civil action, in its own name by any of its attorneys 8
designated by it for such purpose, to recover a civil 9
penalty and seek other appropriate relief in any dis-10
trict court of the United States. 11
(4) S
TANDARDS OF PLEADING .—In a civil ac-12
tion under this subsection, a complaint— 13
(A) plausibly pleads a violation of section 14
1 or 3(a) of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1, 15
3(a)) if the complaint contains factual allega-16
tions, including allegations of consciously par-17
allel pricing coordination, demonstrating that 18
the existence of a contract, or conspiracy in re-19
straint of trade or commerce is among the 20
realm of plausible possibilities; and 21
(B) need not allege facts tending to ex-22
clude the possibility of independent action. 23
(b) C
IVILACTIONS BYINJUREDPERSONS.— 24
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(1) CIVIL ACTION AUTHORIZED .—Any person 1
who is aggrieved by a violation of this Act may bring 2
a civil action in an appropriate district court of the 3
United States, without respect to the amount in con-4
troversy, to recover an amount described in para-5
graph (2). 6
(2) A
WARD AMOUNT.— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The court shall award 8
to the plaintiff threefold the damages sustained 9
by the plaintiff and the reasonable cost of liti-10
gation, including a reasonable attorney fee. 11
(B) I
NTEREST ON DAMAGES .—Pursuant to 12
a motion by the plaintiff promptly made, the 13
court may award simple interest on actual dam-14
ages sustained by the plaintiff for the period 15
beginning on the date of service of the pleading 16
of the plaintiff setting forth a claim under this 17
Act and ending on the date of judgment, or for 18
any shorter period therein. 19
(3) I
NVALIDITY OF PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION 20
AGREEMENTS AND PRE -DISPUTE JOINT ACTION 21
WAIVERS.—At the election of the plaintiff in an ac-22
tion authorized under paragraph (1), a pre-dispute 23
arbitration agreement or pre-dispute joint action 24
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waiver relating to a violation of this Act shall be in-1
valid or unenforceable. 2
SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO FEDERAL ANTITRUST LAWS. 3
Nothing in this Act, or any amendment made by this 4
Act, shall be construed to modify, impair, or supersede 5
the operation of any of the antitrust laws 6
SEC. 6. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL LAWS. 7
Nothing in this Act may be construed to preempt any 8
State, Tribal, city, or local law, regulation, or ordinance 9
that supplements this Act. 10
SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 11
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 12
a provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be 13
unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, and 14
the application of such provisions to any person or cir-15
cumstance shall not be affected thereby. 16
Æ
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