The Anti-Counterfeiting Educational Foundation (ACEF) has joined a national coalition comprising more than 20 major industries seeking legislation to make e-commerce platforms responsible for ensuring that vendors on their platforms do not sell counterfeit products.

“Current U.S. laws and law enforcement’s ‘whack-a-mole’ approach has proven to be no match for the sellers of counterfeit products on e-commerce platforms. It’s time to join forces and use our collective efforts to bring about the changes needed to shut down criminal access to the U.S. marketplace,” said ACEF President John Albanese. “ACEF enthusiastically endorses the SHOP SAFE Act coalition’s efforts and we pledge to inform and enlist the coin industry and numismatic collector community’s support for this important mission,” Albanese added.

SHOP SAFE is an acronym for “Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-Commerce.”

The SHOP SAFE Act has bipartisan support in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. It received a public hearing in the Senate during the 118th Congress. However, it did not receive a floor vote in either chamber. Bipartisan sponsors have pledged to re-introduce bills in both chambers when the new Congress convenes in January 2025 and push to make the legislation become law in 2025.

Once enacted, the SHOP SAFE Act will require e-commerce platforms to engage in best practices for screening and vetting sellers and goods, address repeat counterfeiter sellers, and ensure that consumers have relevant information available to them, or the e-commerce platform could be held liable for the sale of counterfeit and illicit products that harm consumers.

The SHOP SAFE Act will be complementary to the INFORM Consumers Act that took effect on June 27, 2024. It requires online marketplaces to collect, verify, and disclose certain information about “high-volume third-party sellers.”

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