II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4108 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide a process 

to lock and suspend domain names used to facilitate the online sale 

of drugs illegally, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 11 (legislative day, APRIL 10), 2024 

Mr. RUBIO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to 

provide a process to lock and suspend domain names 

used to facilitate the online sale of drugs illegally, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domain Reform for 

5 Unlawful Drug Sellers Act’’ or the ‘‘DRUGS Act’’. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 4108 IS

1 SEC. 2. DOMAIN NAMES USED TO FACILITATE THE ONLINE 

2 SALE OF DRUGS ILLEGALLY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter V of the 

4 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 351 

5 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 524C. DOMAIN NAMES USED TO FACILITATE THE ON7 LINE SALE OF DRUGS ILLEGALLY. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A registry operator or registrar 

9 shall— 

10 ‘‘(1) not later than 24 hours after receipt of a 

11 notification from a trusted notifier respecting a do12 main name that is used to facilitate the online sale 

13 of drugs illegally and that is under the control of the 

14 registry operator or registrar, lock the domain name; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(2) not later than 7 days after receipt of such 

17 notification, suspend the domain name. 

18 ‘‘(b) NOTICE.—Subsection (a) shall apply in the case 

19 of a notification by a trusted notifier that includes, at a 

20 minimum— 

21 ‘‘(1) the domain name being reported to the ap22 propriate registry operator or registrar; 

23 ‘‘(2) the date of observation that the domain 

24 name was used to facilitate the online sale of drugs 

25 illegally; 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 4108 IS

1 ‘‘(3) a summary of the alleged activities that 

2 constitute a domain name being used to facilitate 

3 the online sale of drugs illegally; and 

4 ‘‘(4) a statement that evidence of offering drugs 

5 illegally, such as a screenshot, has been retained, 

6 and is available to be shared with the registry oper7 ator or registrar. 

8 ‘‘(c) REGISTRANT APPEAL.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any registrant whose do10 main name is locked and suspended pursuant to 

11 subsection (a) may appeal such action to the trusted 

12 notifier pursuant to paragraph (2). The domain 

13 name shall remain locked and suspended until a 

14 final determination of the merits of the appeal has 

15 been made. 

16 ‘‘(2) APPEALS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In bringing such an 

18 appeal, the registrant for the locked and sus19 pended domain name may do any of the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(i) Contact the applicable registry 

22 operator or registrar to request informa23 tion regarding the business name, or per24 sonal name if the trusted notifier is not a 

25 business, and the email address, of the 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 4108 IS

1 trusted notifier who submitted the notifica2 tion regarding the domain name. 

3 ‘‘(ii) Dispute the notification by sub4 mitting the following to the applicable 

5 trusted notifier: 

6 ‘‘(I) A copy of the registrant’s 

7 pharmacy licenses for all jurisdictions 

8 where it offered to ship prescription 

9 medicines at the time of the notifica10 tion where such licensure is legally re11 quired in such jurisdiction, or a copy 

12 of registrant’s affiliated pharmacy’s li13 censes for all jurisdictions where the 

14 registrant offered to facilitate the 

15 shipment of prescription medicines at 

16 the time of the notification where 

17 such licensure is legally required in 

18 such jurisdiction. 

19 ‘‘(II) The license information of 

20 the medical practitioner involved in 

21 issuing the prescription facilitated in 

22 part by the registrant’s domain name 

23 where practitioner licensure is legally 

24 required in such jurisdiction. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 4108 IS

1 ‘‘(B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—Not 

2 later than 15 days after receiving a request 

3 under subparagraph (A)(i), a registry operator 

4 or registrar shall provide the requested informa5 tion. 

6 ‘‘(C) INVESTIGATION.—The applicable 

7 trusted notifier shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) conduct a reasonable investigation 

9 regarding the registrant and its domain 

10 name to determine whether notification 

11 under subsection (a) was improper; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) in conducting such investigation, 

13 consider the information provided by the 

14 registrant under subparagraph (B). 

15 ‘‘(D) SUCCESSFUL APPEAL.—If the appeal 

16 is successful, the registry operator or registrar 

17 shall lift the suspension and unlock the domain 

18 name within 15 days. 

19 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec20 tion prohibits a registry operator or registrar from locking 

21 and suspending a domain name used to facilitate the on22 line sale of drugs illegally before receipt of a notification 

23 under this section from a trusted notifier. 

24 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 4108 IS

1 ‘‘(1) DOMAIN NAME.—The term ‘domain name’ 

2 means a name that— 

3 ‘‘(A) identifies a specific location on the 

4 internet that belongs to a particular person; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) consists of 2 or more textual seg7 ments separated by dots. 

8 ‘‘(2) DOMAIN NAME USED TO FACILITATE THE

9 ONLINE SALE OF DRUGS ILLEGALLY.—The term ‘do10 main name used to facilitate the online sale of drugs 

11 illegally’ means a domain name that identifies a lo12 cation on the internet, a primary or significant pur13 pose of which is to introduce or deliver for introduc14 tion into interstate commerce a drug or controlled 

15 substance in violation of this Act or the Controlled 

16 Substances Act. 

17 ‘‘(3) LOCK.—The term ‘lock’ means, with re18 spect to a domain name, for the registry operator or 

19 registrar to systematically prevent the domain name 

20 from being updated, transferred, or deleted during 

21 the balance of the registration of the domain name, 

22 which may be achieved using domain name registra23 tion protocols. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 4108 IS

1 ‘‘(4) PRESCRIPTION DRUG.—The term ‘pre2 scription drug’ means a drug subject to section 

3 503(b)(1). 

4 ‘‘(5) REGISTRAR.—The term ‘registrar’ means 

5 an organization that— 

6 ‘‘(A) manages the registration of domain 

7 names; and 

8 ‘‘(B) during the registration process— 

9 ‘‘(i) verifies that the requested domain 

10 name meets registry requirements; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) submits the name to the appro12 priate registry operator. 

13 ‘‘(6) REGISTRY.—The term ‘registry’ means an 

14 authoritative master database of the domain names 

15 registered in a top-level domain. 

16 ‘‘(7) REGISTRY OPERATOR.—The term ‘registry 

17 operator’ means an organization that maintains a 

18 registry, including by— 

19 ‘‘(A) receiving requests from registrars to 

20 add, delete, or modify domain names; and 

21 ‘‘(B) making the requested changes in the 

22 registry. 

23 ‘‘(8) SUSPEND.—The term ‘suspend’ means, 

24 with respect to a domain name, for the registry op25 erator or registrar to systematically disable the 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 4108 IS

1 functionality of the domain name through a hold or 

2 suspension during the balance of the registration of 

3 the domain name, which may be achieved using do4 main name registration protocols. 

5 ‘‘(9) TRUSTED NOTIFIER.—The term ‘trusted 

6 notifier’ includes the following (and the designees 

7 and agents thereof): 

8 ‘‘(A) The Food and Drug Administration. 

9 ‘‘(B) The Department of Justice, including 

10 the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

11 ‘‘(C) The Department of Homeland Secu12 rity. 

13 ‘‘(D) A State attorney general. 

14 ‘‘(E) A State board of pharmacy. 

15 ‘‘(F) A nonprofit organization with a mem16 bership or governance comprised exclusively of 

17 representatives of— 

18 ‘‘(i) agencies or officials specified in 

19 any of subparagraphs (A) through (E); or 

20 ‘‘(ii) similarly positioned (as deter21 mined by the Commissioner of Food and 

22 Drugs) agencies or officials. 

23 ‘‘(G) Any entity currently under contract 

24 or in a public-private partnership with the Food 

25 and Drug Administration or the Drug EnforceVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:23 Apr 21, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4108.IS S4108

ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 4108 IS

1 ment Administration to share information re2 lated to online drug sales. 

3 ‘‘(H) Any other entity identified by the 

4 Food and Drug Administration as a trusted no5 tifier for purposes of this section, taking into 

6 consideration, at minimum, whether the enti7 ty— 

8 ‘‘(i) is registered to do business in the 

9 United States; 

10 ‘‘(ii) agrees to share notification data, 

11 upon request, with the Food and Drug Ad12 ministration and the Drug Enforcement 

13 Administration; 

14 ‘‘(iii) does not knowingly or with will15 ful ignorance approve or do business with 

16 entities that fail to adhere to the regula17 tions of the Food and Drug Administration 

18 or the Drug Enforcement Administration; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(iv) has published on the website of 

21 such entity policies and procedures for how 

22 the entity will issue notifications under 

23 subsection (a).’’. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 4108 IS

1 (b) PROHIBITED ACT.—Section 301 of the Federal 

2 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 331) is amend3 ed by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(jjj) The failure by a registry operator or registrar 

5 to lock and suspend any domain name in its control in 

6 violation of section 524C.’’. 

7 (c) APPLICABILITY.—Sections 301(jjj) and 524C of 

8 the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, as added by 

9 this section, shall apply beginning on the date that is 60 

10 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS