Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 110 Part 3.djvu/596

 110 STAT. 2326 PUBLIC LAW 104-193—AUG. 22, 1996 the household or any authorized representative of the household may utilize the card. "(10) APPLICABLE LAW.— D isclosures, protections, responsibilities, and remedies established by the Federal Reserve Board under section 904 of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693b) shall not apply to benefits under this Act delivered through any electronic benefit transfer system. "(11) APPLICATION OF ANTI-TYING RESTRICTIONS TO ELEC- TRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFER SYSTEMS.— "(A) DEFINITIONS. —In this paragraph: "(i) AFFILIATE. —The term 'affiliate' has the meaning provided the term in section 2(k) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841(k)). "(ii) COMPANY.— The term 'company* has the meaning provided the term in section 106(a) of the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970 (12 U.S.C. 1971), but shall not include a bank, a bank holding company, or any subsidiary of a bank holding company. "(iii) ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFER SERVICE.— The term 'electronic benefit transfer service' means the processing of electronic transfers of household benefits, determined under section 8(a) or 26, if the benefits are— "(I) issued from and stored in a central databank; "(II) electronically accessed by household members at the point of sale; and "(III) provided by a Federal or State government. "(iv) POINT-OF-SALE SERVICE.— The term 'point-of- . sale service' means any product or service related to the electronic authorization and processing of pay- ments for merchandise at a retail food store, including credit or debit card services, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals, or access to on-line systems. "(B) RESTRICTIONS.— A company may not sell or provide electronic benefit transfer services, or fix or vary the consideration for electronic benefit transfer services, on the condition or requirement that the customer— "(i) obtain some additional point-of-sale service from the company or an affiliate of the company; or "(ii) not obtain some additional point-of-sale service from a competitor of the company or competitor of any affiliate of the company, "(C) CONSULTATION WITH THE FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD.— Before promulgating regulations or interpretations of regulations to carry out this paragraph, the Secretary shall consult with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.", (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that a State that operates an electronic benefit transfer system under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) should operate the system in a manner that is compatible with electronic benefit transfer systems operated by other States,

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