WASHINGTON — The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today applauded the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for passing with overwhelming bipartisan support Senator Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) COOL Online Act, which was added as an amendment to the Endless Frontier Act (S. 1260). The bipartisan COOL Online Act would mandate that country-of-origin labeling (COOL) be clearly and conspicuously stated in any website description of a product. This would protect Americans’ right to know where the products they buy are made and help promote goods that are made in America.
“Americans want to know where the products they buy are made,” CPA Chair Zach Mottl said. “Today, the Senate Commerce Committee took an important step in making sure that U.S. consumers have that information when they are shopping online. On behalf of CPA and our members — hard-working men and women who are committed to producing things in America — I urge the full Senate to swiftly pass Senator Baldwin’s COOL Online Act.”
Under current U.S. law, a product’s external packaging must state its country of origin. However, e-commerce has made distinguishing an item’s place of origin more difficult. Websites often do not display the country-of-origin for a product since labeling laws were written before the advent of internet shopping. Last month, CPA highlighted how hundreds of millions of dollars worth of copycat goods and stolen IP are coming in from China as American consumers continue to shop online, with their orders going directly to Chinese manufacturers.
“CPA was proud to support Senator Baldwin and her colleagues for introducing this important legislation in the last Congress,” said Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA. “Today, we applaud the Senate Commerce Committee for passing this important bill that will help consumers learn where the products they purchase on the Internet are made. For too long, countries like China have sold counterfeit, unsafe, and shoddy goods to unwitting Americans. By requiring online country-of-origin-labeling, U.S. consumers will have more information to find quality, American-made products.”
CPA strongly supports the COOL bill, particularly in light of growing consumer interest in buying domestically produced items. The new bill would mandate a prominent country-of-origin description for all products sold online as well as clear disclosure of the country in which the seller of the product is located.
Read more about U.S. consumers looking to buy American-made products.
Media Contact:
Nick Iacovella, Communications Director
nick@prosperousamerica.org
(202) 688-5145 ext. 0
