How many times have you tried to find out where an item was manufactured when shopping online? A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in May called the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act, “which would ensure that all goods sold online list their country-of-origin to protect Americans’ right to know where the products they buy are made, and to promote American-made goods for online shoppers.”
While informative for shoppers, it would impose new regulations on online sellers, with penalties for non-compliance.
eBay’s Government Relations department sent an email to sellers enrolled in its Main Street program on Tuesday asking them to reach out to their Senators and request that they oppose the measure:
Tell Your Senators to Protect American Small Businesses and Oppose COOL Requirements
American small businesses should not be treated like foreign manufacturers!
Contact Your Senators
Hi (Redacted),
Congress is considering a new law that would place new burdens on online sellers. The COOL Online Act would take complicated Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements that were written for foreign manufacturers and force them on Americans selling online.
These requirements come with potentially hefty fines for every violation, even when it is the responsibility of manufacturers to ensure that products are properly marked.
Make your voice heard, and tell your Senators to oppose COOL for online sellers.
Sincerely,
The eBay Government Relations Team
Some excerpts from the Senate website describing the COOL Online Act include follow below:
“The COOL Online Act would require products sold online to include in the product description information about the product’s country of origin and the seller’s principal place of business.”
“The legislation simply extends currently existing county-of-origin labeling requirements that already apply to imported products—to those same products when sold online.”
“The Federal Trade Commission is directed to enforce violations as an unfair or deceptive practice, though a safe harbor is provided to retailers who rely on country-of-origin information provided by a third-party manufacturer, importer, or distributor.”
The page also explains the exemption for small sellers and for used goods:
“Used articles, food products, and prescription drugs are exempt as are small sellers (with annual sales under $20,000 and fewer than 200 sales).”
eBayMainStreet.com offers a template for sellers who wish to contact their senators.
How exactly is a seller supposed to know where an item was made if the item doesn’t specifically say on it?
What is wrong with this bill? Most new items on Ebay and Amazon have country of origan. “New” items on Etsy are a problem.
Country of Origin disclosed would be great. Easy to weed out made in china junk
In reality you still may not know. I used to work for a furniture company that claimed they made Italian furniture. In reality, it was all made in flat packs in China, the cargo ship docked in Italy for a few days, then brought it to the US. I suppose Italian law allows that. But that Italian furniture was most def made in China. Even the “Made in Italy” sticker was made in China!
Economic nationalism. Nothing new to see here.
Although the article says used articles and small sellers are exempt, I WELCOME country of origin labels on anything. I BUY AMERICAN. I deliberately avoid Made In China products whenever possible and hope increasing numbers of concerned US citizens will do the same.
Do you know that already, FOREIGN MEAT can be imported and sold as “PRODUCT OF USA” ?????????
Check out
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=can+meat+imported+from+foreign+countries+be+labeled+as+product+of+usa
My information is that all they have to do after bringing it into this country is WRAP it here. I want to know where my food comes from. How it’s grown, what it is fed, chemicals used, etc. This is sick.