To expand the sharing of information with respect to suspected violations of intellectual property rights in trade.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4930) to expand the sharing of information with respect to suspected violations of intellectual property rights in trade, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) for his support of this piece of legislation that the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) and I have proposed today for consideration. I will share a few remarks on this, but again, I appreciate the committee and the entire staff for the work that they have done to make this possible.

I am very pleased, Mr. Speaker, that my bill, H.R. 4930, which I am calling the counterfeit notification act, has been slated for floor consideration today. I introduced this bill with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) to target the influx of counterfeit goods entering the United States and to equip our Customs and Border Patrol officers to share real-time information with businesses, e-commerce platforms, and logistics companies.

To put things into perspective, in fiscal year 2023, Customs and Border Protection seized more than $2.7 billion worth of counterfeit goods at the U.S. border. More than 46 percent of seizures originated from China and Hong Kong.

This poses serious national security threats and risks to citizens due to products of poor quality, hazardous material, or unknown production conditions, such as, of course, forced labor.

My bill addresses a key gap in CBP's ability to spot and halt the flow of counterfeit goods into the U.S. under current law. When CBP suspects a shipment may be counterfeit, they are allowed only to publicize limited information. They are unable to share labels, invoices, or packing slips that identify the products of the country of origin with key stakeholders. This leaves the business community, e- commerce platforms like Etsy and Amazon, and logistics carriers like DHL, UPS, or FedEx in the dark when counterfeit activity is happening right under their nose.

To solve the issue, the counterfeit notification act gives CBP explicit authority to share relevant information with companies, carriers, and platforms when they receive a potentially counterfeit shipment.

This will include shipping labels and tracking numbers, invoices and shipping manifests, outer packaging images, or sender and recipient addresses.

The bill also broadens the range of parties with whom CBP can share information, such as e-commerce sites from which the products in question may be sold. This means that CBP will be able to recognize and flag patterns of behavior, like repeat senders of mass shipments, drop addresses used by organized counterfeiters, or common entry points or air routes for suspected counterfeit goods.

For example, if a counterfeit shipment from China repeatedly enters the U.S. via the Port of Los Angeles using the same fake return address, CBP will be able to share these patterns with carriers like UPS, DHL, and FedEx so they can intercept future parcels before they arrive on American soil.

Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense bill that will strengthen U.S. national security, kneecap bad actors, and protect the IP of American companies.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support of my colleagues on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, our intellectual property rights have secured over two centuries' worth of leadership and innovation. They form the foundation upon which opportunity for entrepreneurship is built and which makes the U.S. economy the envy of the world.

This legislation addresses the current weakness in our IP protections by ensuring those at CBP on the front lines of defending our national interests are better aligned with the businesses and workers that define our economic might.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of our colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4930, introduced by the Representative from Utah (Mr. Moore), my colleague and friend. I join him in praising our staffs, who worked together. It is good to see us working on a commonsense solution.

H.R. 4930, the counterfeit notification act, gives U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents the ability to share information about counterfeit goods with retailers and manufacturers.

The bill clarifies U.S. Customs and Border Protection's authority to share information about packaging, product specifications, and packing materials when their agents encounter a shipment of suspected counterfeit goods entering the United States.

Sharing this information with retailers, manufacturers, and logistics companies will help them better identify fraudulent shipments and target organized counterfeiting operations.

The bill also allows CBP agents to work directly with the intellectual property owners and with parties involved in the supply chain to better intercept counterfeit goods and track their country of origin.

Protecting intellectual property is essential for sustaining innovation, economic growth, and global competitiveness, especially in my district, which is home to some of the largest companies developing the next generation of medical technologies.

We know that counterfeit products can be dangerous to consumers and present serious safety and public health hazards.

In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than 32 million counterfeit and pirated items across more than 300 ports of entry, which, all told, were valued in excess of $5 billion.

In the past 5 years, the number of illicit goods seized by CBP has more than doubled, while the value of those seized goods has grown by more than 400 percent.

The members of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition note that the cost of trafficking counterfeit goods is not only measured in dollars but also in the injuries caused by dangerous products, jobs lost to unfair competition, and the threats such products pose to our national security.

Whether we are talking about baby products, fashion goods, pharmaceuticals, or even electronics, this bill presents a commonsense solution to strengthen our country's ability to detect counterfeit goods and to keep the American people safe.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore), my friend and colleague, for working with me on H.R. 4930. I was proud to see this bill pass out of the Ways and Means Committee last year with a unanimous bipartisan vote.

Mr. Speaker, this bill gives U.S. Customs agents the tools they need to identify counterfeit goods, investigate supply chains, and better protect Americans from dangerous counterfeit products.

Again, I thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore) for his partnership on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4930, and I yield back the balance of my time.