Tough new sweepstakes regulations were approved recently by the House postal subcommittee. The revised Honesty in Sweepstakes Act (HR-70) mirrors a bill passed by the Senate – with a few key differences. Both the House and Senate bills would require direct mail sweepstakes operators to conspicuously indicate that their mailings are an invitation to participate in a sweepstakes or game of chance. The mailings also would have to state the odds of winning and that no purchase is necessary to participate or win. However, the Senate bill would require sweepstakes operators to remove the names of people not wanting to receive their offers within 35 days, while the House bill would extend that period to 60 days. In addition, the House measure would permit individuals to sue sweepstakes operators for failing to remove their names from mailing lists in a timely fashion while the Senate version does not. Both bills are supported by the Direct Marketing Association. The House bill was in! troduced in January by Rep. Fran k LoBiondo (R-NJ) and revised by Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), chairman of the subcommittee, with help from Reps. James Rogan (R-CA) and Bill McCollum (R-FL). The bill now goes to the House Government Reform Committee, the postal subcommittee’s parent, for consideration. Committee Chairman Rep. DanBurton (R-IN) was expected to schedule action on the bill at press time.>CND IRECT NEWSLINE
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