[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR776.8]

[Page 323-324]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 776_INTERPRETATIVE BULLETIN ON THE GENERAL COVERAGE OF THE WAGE 
 
                            Subpart A_General
 
Sec. 776.8  The statutory provisions.

    (a) The activities constituting ``commerce'' within the meaning of 
the phrase ``engaged in commerce'' in sections 6 and 7 of the Act are 
defined in section 3(b) as follows:

    Commerce means trade, commerce, transportation, transmission, or 
communication among the several States, or between any State and any 
place outside thereof. \21\

    \21\ As amended by section 3(a) of the Fair Labor Standards 
Amendments of 1949.

As has been noted in Sec. 776.7, the word ``State'' in this definition 
refers not only to any of the fifty States but also to the District of 
Columbia and to any Territory or possession of the United States.
    (b) It should be observed that the term commerce is very broadly 
defined. The definition does not limit the term to transportation, or to 
the ``commercial'' transactions involved in ``trade,'' although these 
are expressly included. Neither is the term confined to commerce in 
``goods.'' Obviously, ``transportation'' or ``commerce'' between any 
State and any place outside its boundaries includes a movement of 
persons as well as a movement of goods. And ``transmission'' or 
``communication'' across State lines constitutes ``commerce'' under the 
definition, without reference to whether anything so transmitted or 
communicated is ``goods.'' \22\
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    \22\ ``Goods'' is, however, broadly defined in the Act. See 
Sec. 776.20(a).

The inclusion of the term ``commerce'' in the definition of the same 
term as used in the Act implies that no special or limited meaning is 
intended; rather, that the scope of the term for purposes of the Act is 
at least as broad as it

[[Page 324]]

would be under concepts of ``commerce'' established without reference to 
this definition.