42 USC 5409 – Prohibited acts; exemptions
(a) No person shall—
(1) make use of any means of transportation or communication affecting interstate or foreign commerce or the mails to manufacture for sale, lease, sell, offer for sale or lease, or introduce or deliver, or import into the United States, any manufactured home which is manufactured on or after the effective date of any applicable Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard under this chapter and which does not comply with such standard, except as provided in subsection (b), where such manufacture, lease, sale, offer for sale or lease, introduction, delivery, or importation affects commerce;
(2) fail or refuse to permit access to or copying of records, or fail to make reports or provide information, or fail or refuse to permit entry or inspection, as required under section 5413 of this title;
(3) fail to furnish notification of any defect as required by section 5414 of this title;
(4) fail to issue a certification required by section 5415 of this title, or issue a certification to the effect that a manufactured home conforms to all applicable Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards, if such person in the exercise of due care has reason to know that such certification is false or misleading in a material respect;
(5) fail to comply with a final order issued by the Secretary under this chapter;
(6) issue a certification pursuant to subsection (h) of section 5403 of this title, if such person in the exercise of due care has reason to know that such certification is false or misleading in a material respect; or
(7) after the expiration of the period specified in section 5404(c)(2)(B) of this title, fail to comply with the requirements for the installation program required by section 5404 of this title in any State that has not adopted and implemented a State installation program.
Terms Used In 42 USC 5409
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- defect: includes any defect in the performance, construction, components, or material of a manufactured home that renders the home or any part thereof not fit for the ordinary use for which it was intended. See 42 USC 5402
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- manufactured home: means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which, in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. See 42 USC 5402
- manufactured home construction: means all activities relating to the assembly and manufacture of a manufactured home including but not limited to those relating to durability, quality, and safety. See 42 USC 5402
- manufacturer: means any person engaged in manufacturing or assembling manufactured homes, including any person engaged in importing manufactured homes for resale. See 42 USC 5402
- Secretary: means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. See 42 USC 5402
- State: includes each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa. See 42 USC 5402
(b)(1) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall not apply to the sale, the offer for sale, or the introduction or delivery for introduction in interstate commerce of any manufactured home after the first purchase of it in good faith for purposes other than resale.
(2) For purposes of section 5410 of this title, paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall not apply to any person who establishes that he did not have reason to know in the exercise of due care that such manufactured home is not in conformity with applicable Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards, or to any person who, prior to such first purchase, holds a certificate issued by the manufacturer or importer of such manufactured home to the effect that such manufactured home conforms to all applicable Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards, unless such person knows that such manufactured home does not so conform.
(3) A manufactured home offered for importation in violation of paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall be refused admission into the United States under joint regulations issued by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary, except that the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary may, by such regulations, provide for authorizing the importation of such manufactured home into the United States upon such terms and conditions (including the furnishing of a bond) as may appear to them appropriate to insure that any such manufactured home will be brought into conformity with any applicable Federal manufactured home construction or safety standard prescribed under this chapter, or will be exported from, or forfeited to, the United States.
(4) The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary may, by joint regulations, permit the importation of any manufactured home after the first purchase of it in good faith for purposes other than resale.
(5) Paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall not apply in the case of a manufactured home intended solely for export, and so labeled or tagged on the manufactured home itself and on the outside of the container, if any, in which it is to be exported.
(c) Compliance with any Federal manufactured home construction or safety standard issued under this chapter does not exempt any person from any liability under common law.