COOL Act Clears Committee in Senate

The Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation (S 1421) that would mandate country-of- origin labeling for products sold online.

The Country of Origin Labeling Online Act passed a vote of 16 to 11, with all committee Democrats voting in favor of the bill, along with two Republican senators.

The bill would require that the country of origin be clearly and conspicuously stated in any website description of a product. The bill’s chief sponsors, Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc) and JD Vance (R-Ohio), say the measure would give online shoppers the same freedom to choose products made in the United States that in store shoppers enjoy.

The legislation would prohibit:

"a product that is marked or required to be marked under section 304 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1304) to be introduced, sold, advertised, or offered for sale in commerce on an internet website unless the internet website description of the product indicates in a conspicuous place—

(i) the country of origin of the product (or, in the case of a multi-sourced product, the countries of origin), in a manner consistent with the regulations prescribed under such section 304; an

ii) the country in which the seller of the product has its principal place of business.