Three bills have been introduced in Congress to address "the growing criminal activity known as organized retail crime (ORC)":
ORC involves sophisticated crime rings that move from store to store stealing large quantities of goods. The stolen merchandise is then sold, often to unknowing customers, through flea markets, swap meets, pawn shops and, increasingly, on Internet auction sites. Tens of billions of dollars of merchandise is stolen annually by these criminals. * * * Because of widely varying state laws and the lack of a clear federal criminal statute addressing ORC, gangs who move from store to store stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise are often only subject to minor misdemeanor charges. * * * ORC jeopardizes the health and well-being of consumers, communities and businesses by exposing innocent consumers to potentially tampered or tainted goods; robs states of billions in sales tax revenue, and costs retailers tens of billions of dollars each year. Furthermore organized retail criminals often use the profits from ORC to fund other crimes.
About the bills:
The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2009 introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and co-sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) would clarify existing law to give law enforcement the tools to fight ORC, require on-line and off-line market places to investigate suspicious sales, and place basic disclosure requirements on on-line marketplaces.
The Organized Retail Crime Act of 2009 HR 1173, introduced by Congressman Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) and co-sponsored by Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) would amend federal criminal code, making it illegal to engage in activities that further organized retail crime. To deter illegal activities of organized retail criminals, it would also impose specific and narrow obligations upon on-line marketplaces known to be used by high-volume sellers of stolen merchandise.
The E-Fencing Enforcement Act of 2009 HR 1166, introduced by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) is a carefully tailored bill that tackles the selling of stolen goods on-line, the bill would address ORC by imposing reasonable duties on on-line marketplaces to collect information that law enforcement can in turn use to prosecute those that fence goods on their websites. The bill requires that on-line marketplaces halt the sale of goods on websites if the goods are determined to be stolen.
