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July
18, 2008
In this issue:
Georgia Conference on Organized Retail Theft
Impact
of Economic Stimulus Checks? – Your Input is Needed
Federal Legislation On Organized Retail Crime Introduced
U.S. House Judiciary Committee passes the Credit Card Fair Fee Act
Georgia Conference on Organized Retail Theft
Did you know that organized retail theft (ORT) is an offense that
is growing exponentially in Georgia, and across the nation, costing
Georgia’s merchants $882,000,000 every year?
Did you know that losses due to organized retail crime are bigger
than robbery, larceny, burglary and auto theft combined?
Georgia’s first conference on Organized Retail Theft will
be held on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at AmericasMart in Atlanta.
Plan now to attend the conference to learn what is being done and
what you can do about ORT in your store.
The day-long conference includes breakfast and lunch and it’s
free for first three individuals from any GRA member company and
just $25 per person for non-members.
This conference is your opportunity to:
- Hear
from some the top experts on the nature and extent of ORT;
- Hear
from the F.B.I. and local law enforcement on how they are addressing
this problem;
- Learn
about what you can do to fight this criminal activity;
- Learn
how police; prosecutors and retailers can effectively work together;
- Get
a view of nationwide legislative activity on ORT legislation;
- Get
a first-hand overview of Georgia’s Organized Retail Theft
law.
Featured speakers include:
- Frank
Muscato – Walgreens Organized Retail Crime Investigator
- Ron
Kozoil – Assistant Chief, Federal Bureau of Investigations
- Mark
McCain – Director of Investigations Asset Protection Division,
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
- Chad
McIntosh – DVP Stores Loss Prevention, Macy’s Central
- Representative
Larry O’Neal, author of HB 1346 – Georgia’s
Organized Retail Theft Law
- Stan
Gunter, District Attorney, Entotah Judicial Circuit
Impact of Economic Stimulus Checks? – Your Input is
Needed
The U.S. House Small Business Committee has asked for examples of
what impact the economic stimulus package passed by Congress earlier
this year had on retail sales.
If you have any experience with this, would you please share it
with us? Please provide us your feedback on your experiences with
consumer spending over the past six months.
This information will be incorporated, either by attribution or
anonymously, into a presentation to the Committee. We would like
to receive any responses by close of business on Tuesday, July 22.
Legislation
Introduced Making Organized Retail Crime a Violation of Federal
Law
In an attempt to stop a growing problem that costs retailers and
consumers as much as $30 billion a year and threatens public safety
through the sale of tainted goods, legislation was introduced in
Congress on Tuesday, July 15, 2006 that would make organized retail
crime a federal offense
The introduction of this bill shows that Congress realizes organized
retail crime is more than just shoplifting. Organized retail
crime is a large and growing national issue with dollar losses bigger
than robbery, larceny, burglary and auto theft combined. It
also threatens public health and safety when thieves tamper with
items like baby formula or over-the-counter medications before offering
them for sale.
If enacted, this legislation would make organized retail crime part
of the federal criminal statutes, and would give law enforcement
officers and prosecutors the tools they need to put these criminals
behind bars.
A significant portion of this bill deals with on-line fencing of
stolen goods; on-line auctions and other markets on the Internet
where thieves can re-sell stolen property to customers on a national
or even international level with virtually no questions asked.
Requiring Internet marketplaces to live up to their responsibility
to block the sale of obviously stolen merchandise is not unreasonable.
Current laws are not adequate to police the sale of counterfeit
goods on those sites.
H.R. 6491, the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008 was introduced
by Representative Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat from Indiana and Representative
Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, as the lead co-sponsor.
The bill would define organized retail crime as “the acquiring
of retail merchandise by illegal means for the purpose of reselling
the items” and make such activity – including transportation,
sale or receipt of stolen retail goods, – a federal crime.
Among other provisions, sale of stolen or counterfeit gift cards,
or items with faked Universal Product Codes or Radio Frequency Identification
chips would be considered fraud. Those found guilty of committing
or facilitating organized retail crimes would be subject to appropriate
existing fines, prison terms and forfeiture, and the legislation
would require the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review its guidelines
for cases involving such crimes.
The bill would also establish that operation of on-line marketplaces
such as auction sites can be considered “facilitation”
of organized retail crime unless the operator can show that specific
steps had been taken to ensure that goods being sold were not obtained
by theft or fraud. Site operators would be required to “expeditiously”
investigate complaints that stolen items are being sold, maintain
records of the names and physical addresses of high-volume sellers,
and require high-volume sellers to either post that information
along with merchandise offerings or make it available upon request
to any business with a reasonable suspicion about the merchandise.
Operators of on-line marketplaces could also be sued by any business
whose stolen goods were sold.
U.S. House Judiciary Committee passes the Credit Card Fair
Fee Act
On Wednesday, July 15, 2008 the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed
the Credit Card Fair Fee Act, which would require merchants and
credit card companies to negotiate transaction fees, on a strong
bipartisan vote with 9 Republicans and 10 Democrats joining with
Chairman Conyers. Several poison pill amendments that would have
ended the legislation’s progress for the year were handily
defeated. With the momentum gained from the strong Judiciary vote,
retailers need to focus efforts on securing a House floor vote soon.
Because the credit card lobbyists were out in full force on this
issue, we had to agree to some modifications to get us through the
House Judiciary Committee. Those changes were to:
-
Permit small banks and credit unions to opt out of antitrust negotiation
exemption if they so elect.
- Eliminate
the 3-judge panel but have monitoring of the negotiation sessions
by Department of Justice officials, who will report back to Congress
on the negotiations as they occur.
- Require
that Consumer merchants and financial institutions pass benefits
or savings from negotiations to consumers and employees.
An amendment by Dan Lungren, a republican from California, was accepted
that clarifies that group boycotts are not permitted by this bill.
The Senate is anxious to hold a Judiciary Committee hearing on the
issue. They have cut one week from their schedule to give them another
week in their States during August for campaigning, so it might
not be possible to schedule this hearing before September.
Thanks are in order to Chairman John Conyers, a democrat from Michigan
and Congressman Chris Cannon, a republican from Utah, the prime
sponsors, of the bill.
Thank you.
John C. Heavener, MSM, CAE
President
johnh@georgiaretail.org
Telephone – 770-484-3449, ext. 21
Fax – 770-484-5727
Georgia Retail Association
About GRA: The Georgia Retail Association, with
membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution
including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent
stores, and grocery stores has been serving the state’s business
community since 1961. The Georgia Retail Association represents
an industry with more than 71,300 retail establishments, and more
than 715,000 employees - about one in five of Georgia’s workers
- and 2004 sales of $115.2 billion.
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