
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 47USC330]

 
          TITLE 47--TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, AND RADIOTELEGRAPHS
 
                 CHAPTER 5--WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION
 
          SUBCHAPTER III--SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO RADIO
 
                       Part I--General Provisions
 
Sec. 330. Prohibition against shipment of certain television 
        receivers
        
    (a) No person shall ship in interstate commerce, or import from any 
foreign country into the United States, for sale or resale to the 
public, apparatus described in subsection (s) of section 303 of this 
title unless it complies with rules prescribed by the Commission 
pursuant to the authority granted by that subsection: Provided, That 
this section shall not apply to carriers transporting such apparatus 
without trading in it.
    (b) No person shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture, 
assemble, or import from any foreign country into the United States, any 
apparatus described in section 303(u) of this title except in accordance 
with rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority 
granted by that section. Such rules shall provide performance and 
display standards for such built-in decoder circuitry. Such rules shall 
further require that all such apparatus be able to receive and display 
closed captioning which have been transmitted by way of line 21 of the 
vertical blanking interval and which conform to the signal and display 
specifications set forth in the Public Broadcasting System engineering 
report numbered E-7709-C dated May 1980, as amended by the Telecaption 
II Decoder Module Performance Specification published by the National 
Captioning Institute, November 1985. As new video technology is 
developed, the Commission shall take such action as the Commission 
determines appropriate to ensure that closed-captioning service 
continues to be available to consumers. This subsection shall not apply 
to carriers transporting such apparatus without trading it.
    (c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no person shall ship in 
interstate commerce or manufacture in the United States any apparatus 
described in section 303(x) of this title except in accordance with 
rules prescribed by the Commission pursuant to the authority granted by 
that section.
    (2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers transporting 
apparatus referred to in paragraph (1) without trading in it.
    (3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under this subsection 
shall provide for the oversight by the Commission of the adoption of 
standards by industry for blocking technology. Such rules shall require 
that all such apparatus be able to receive the rating signals which have 
been transmitted by way of line 21 of the vertical blanking interval and 
which conform to the signal and blocking specifications established by 
industry under the supervision of the Commission.
    (4) As new video technology is developed, the Commission shall take 
such action as the Commission determines appropriate to ensure that 
blocking service continues to be available to consumers. If the 
Commission determines that an alternative blocking technology exists 
that--
        (A) enables parents to block programming based on identifying 
    programs without ratings,
        (B) is available to consumers at a cost which is comparable to 
    the cost of technology that allows parents to block programming 
    based on common ratings, and
        (C) will allow parents to block a broad range of programs on a 
    multichannel system as effectively and as easily as technology that 
    allows parents to block programming based on common ratings,

the Commission shall amend the rules prescribed pursuant to section 
303(x) of this title to require that the apparatus described in such 
section be equipped with either the blocking technology described in 
such section or the alternative blocking technology described in this 
paragraph.
    (d) For the purposes of this section, and sections 303(s), 303(u), 
and 303(x) of this title--
        (1) The term ``interstate commerce'' means (A) commerce between 
    any State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
    Rico, or any possession of the United States and any place outside 
    thereof which is within the United States, (B) commerce between 
    points in the same State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 
    of Puerto Rico, or possession of the United States but through any 
    place outside thereof, or (C) commerce wholly within the District of 
    Columbia or any possession of the United States.
        (2) The term ``United States'' means the several States, the 
    District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the 
    possessions of the United States, but does not include the Canal 
    Zone.

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title III, Sec. 330, as added Pub. L. 87-529, 
Sec. 2, July 10, 1962, 76 Stat. 151; amended Pub. L. 101-431, Sec. 4, 
Oct. 15, 1990, 104 Stat. 961; Pub. L. 104-104, title V, Sec. 551(d), 
Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 141.)

                       References in Text

    For definition of Canal Zone, referred to in subsec. (d)(2), see 
section 3602(b) of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104-104, Sec. 551(d)(1)(B), added subsec. 
(c). Former subsec. (c) redesignated (d).
    Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104-104, Sec. 551(d)(2), in introductory 
provisions substituted ``and sections 303(s), 303(u), and 303(x) of this 
title'' for ``section 303(s) of this title, and section 303(u) of this 
title''.
    Pub. L. 104-104, Sec. 551(d)(1)(B), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d).
    1990--Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 101-431 added subsec. (b), 
redesignated former subsec. (b) as (c), and substituted ``, section 
303(s) of this title, and section 303(u) of this title'' for ``and 
section 303(s) of this title''.


                    Effective Date of 1990 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 101-431 effective July 1, 1993, see section 5 
of Pub. L. 101-431, set out as a note under section 303 of this title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 303 of this title.
