29 CFR § 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 § 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

22 “Goods” is, however, broadly defined in the Act. See § 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 would be under concepts of “commerce” established without reference to this definition.