Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016
Public Law 114-258 · H.R. 5111 · 114th Congress · began in the House
Signed by Barack Obama (D) on Dec 14, 2016 · Commerce
Sponsor: Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ-7)
Cosponsors (9): Rep. Joseph Kennedy, Rep. Darrell Issa,
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016
(Sec. 2) This bill makes a provision of a form contract void from the inception if it: (1) prohibits or restricts an individual who is a party to such a contract from engaging in written, oral, or pictorial reviews, or other similar performance assessments or analyses of, including by electronic means, the goods, services, or conduct of a person that is also a party to the contract; (2) imposes penalties or fees against individuals who engage in such communications; or (3) transfers or requires the individual to transfer intellectual property rights in review or feedback content (with the exception of a nonexclusive license to use the content) in any otherwise lawful communications about such person or the goods or services provided by such person.
A "form contract" is a contract with standardized terms: (1) used by a person in the course of selling or leasing the person's goods or services, and (2) imposed on an individual without a meaningful opportunity to negotiate the standardized terms. The definition excludes an employer-employee or independent contractor contract.
The standards under which provisions of a form contract are considered void under this bill shall not be construed to affect:
• legal duties of confidentiality;
• civil actions for defamation, libel, or slander; or
• a party's right to establish terms and conditions for the creation of photographs or video of such party's property when those photographs or video are created by an employee or independent contractor of a commercial entity and are solely intended to be used for commercial purposes by that entity.
Such standards also shall not be construed to affect any party's right to remove or refuse to display publicly on an Internet website or webpage owned, operated, or controlled by such party content that: (1) contains the personal information or likeness of another person or is libelous, harassing, abusive, obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, inappropriate with respect to race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or other intrinsic characteristic; (2) is unrelated to the goods or services offered by or available at such party's website; or (3) is clearly false or misleading.
A provision shall not be considered void under this bill to the extent that it prohibits disclosure or submission of, or reserves the right of a person or business that hosts online consumer reviews or comments to remove, certain: (1) trade secrets or commercial or financial information; (2) personnel and medical files; (3) law enforcement records; (4) content that is unlawful or that a party has a right to remove or refuse to display; or (5) computer viruses or other potentially damaging computer code, processes, applications, or files.
A person is prohibited from offering form contracts containing a provision that is considered void under this bill.
Enforcement authority is provided to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and states.
The FTC must provide businesses with nonbinding best practices for compliance.
Nothing in this bill shall be construed to limit, impair, or supersede the Federal Trade Commission Act or any other federal law.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Energy and Commerce Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Innovation, Data, and Commerce Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
S. 2044Related bill
Consumer Review Freedom Act of 2015
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 22 actions.
- Dec 14, 2016Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 114-258.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Dec 2, 2016FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Nov 29, 2016FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- Nov 28, 2016FloorFloor · Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 13, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Received in the Senate, read twice.
- Sep 12, 2016FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 5111.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Burgess moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Sep 9, 2016CalendarCalendar · Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 567.
- CommitteeCommittee · Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Energy and Commerce. H. Rept. 114-731.
- Jul 13, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jul 12, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jun 9, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote .
- CommitteeCommittee · Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jun 8, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Apr 29, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.
- Apr 28, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in House
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.