Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act

Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act

Long title	An Act to provide disclosure standards for written consumer product warranties against defect or malfunction; to define Federal content standards for such warranties; to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act in order to improve its consumer protection activities; An Act to provide minimum disclosure standards for written consumer product warranties; to define minimum Federal content standards for such warranties; to amend the Federal Trade Commission Act in order to improve its consumer protection activities; and for other purposes.
Nicknames	Consumer Product Warranty and Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act
Enacted by	the 93rd United States Congress
Effective	January 4, 1975
Citations
Public law	93-637
Statutes at Large	88 Stat. 2183
Codification
Titles amended	15 U.S.C.: Commerce and Trade
U.S.C. sections created	15 U.S.C. ch. 50 § 2301 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 356 by Warren Magnuson (D–WA) on May 14, 1973 Committee consideration by Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation, House Energy and Commerce Passed the Senate on September 12, 1973 (Passed) Passed the House on September 19, 1974 (384-1, in lieu of H.R. 7917) Reported by the joint conference committee on October 8, 1974; agreed to by the Senate on December 18, 1974 (70-5) and by the House on December 19, 1974 (Passed) Signed into law by President Gerald R. Ford on January 4, 1975

The Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act (P.L. 93-637) is a United States federal law, (15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.). Enacted in 1975, it is the federal statute that governs warranties on consumer products. The law does not require any product to have a warranty (it may be sold "as is") but if it does have a warranty the warranty must comply with this law. The law was created to fix problems as a result of manufacturers using disclaimers on warranties in an unfair or misleading manner.

According to the Report of the House of Representatives which accompanied the law (House Report No. 93-1197, 93d Cong 2d Sess.) the Magnuson–Moss act was enacted by Congress in response to the widespread misuse by merchants of express warranties and disclaimers. The legislative history indicates that the purpose of the Act is to make warranties on consumer products more readily understood and enforceable and to provide the Federal Trade Commission with means to better protect consumers.

The Act was sponsored by Senator Warren G. Magnuson of Washington and U.S. Representative John E. Moss of California, both Democrats, as well as Senator Frank Moss of Utah, who co-sponsored it with Magnuson.

The statute is remedial in nature and is intended to protect consumers from deceptive warranty practices. Consumer products are not required to have warranties, but if one is given, it must comply with the Magnuson–Moss Act.

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