The Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate in August of 2009. The bill, S. 1606 (the House version is H.R. 4678), followed up on hearings earlier that year during which witnesses testified about
the perceived delays and difficulties with serving foreign manufacturers with
process and establishing jurisdiction.
 
In comments on the Senate floor, sponsors cited recent examples in which Americans had been injured by allegedly defective foreign products. They claimed that the current rules put American manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage because they supposedly allow foreign companies to offer cheaper products that
do not comply with U.S. safety requirements. The bill would apply to drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics, biological products, “consumer products” as defined in the Consumer Product Safety Act, chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act,
and pesticides.

The bill specifically addresses the issues of service of process and jurisdiction. Service abroad involves the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra Judicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters, to which the U.S. is a signatory. Under the terms of this agreement, a complaint must be translated into the foreign language, transmitted to the central authority in the foreign country,
and then delivered according to the rules of service in the home country of the defendant. This can be a lengthy and expensive process.

The proposed legislation would require foreign manufacturers and producers of covered products distributed in commerce (or component parts that will be used in America to manufacture such products) to establish a registered agent in the United States who is authorized to accept service of process.  It similarly states that a person may not import into the U.S. a covered product (or component part that will be used in America to manufacture a covered product) if such product (or component part) or any part of such product (or component part) was manufactured or produced outside the United States by a manufacturer or producer who does not have a registered agent.

The second major hurdle associated with the Hague Convention is the inability to establish personal jurisdiction over foreign manufacturers. Under the new bill, a foreign manufacturer or producer of covered products that registers an agent as above thereby consents to the personal jurisdiction of the State or Federal courts
of the State in which the registered agent is located for the purpose of any civil or regulatory proceeding.