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