I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6352 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 30, 2021 

Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 6352 IH

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. 524B. 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 used to facilitate the online sale of drugs 

13 illegally that is under the control of the registry op14 erator or registrar, lock the domain name; and 

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

16 notification, suspend the domain name. 

17 ‘‘(b) NOTICE.—For purposes of subsection (a), a no18 tification shall include, at a minimum— 

19 ‘‘(1) the domain name being reported; 

20 ‘‘(2) the date the alleged violations described in 

21 subsection (e)(2) were observed; 

22 ‘‘(3) a summary of the alleged violations; and 

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

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

25 and is available to be shared with the registry oper26 ator or registrar. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 6352 IH

1 ‘‘(c) REGISTRANT APPEAL.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any registrant whose do3 main name is locked and suspended pursuant to 

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

5 notifier pursuant to paragraph (2). The domain 

6 name shall remain locked and suspended until a 

7 final determination of the merits of the appeal has 

8 been made. 

9 ‘‘(2) APPEALS.— 

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

11 appeal, the registrant for the locked and sus12 pended domain name may do any of the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(i) Contact the applicable registry 

15 operator or registrar to request informa16 tion regarding the business name, or per17 sonal name if the trusted notifier is not a 

18 business, and the email address, of the 

19 trusted notifier who submitted the notifica20 tion regarding the domain name. 

21 ‘‘(ii) Dispute the notification by sub22 mitting the following to the applicable 

23 trusted notifier: 

24 ‘‘(I) A copy of the registrant’s 

25 pharmacy licenses for all jurisdictions 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 6352 IH

1 where it offered to ship prescription 

2 medicines at the time of the notifica3 tion where such licensure is legally re4 quired in such jurisdiction, or a copy 

5 of registrant’s affiliated pharmacy’s li6 censes for all jurisdictions where the 

7 registrant offered to facilitate the 

8 shipment of prescription medicines at 

9 the time of the notification where 

10 such licensure is legally required in 

11 such jurisdiction. 

12 ‘‘(II) The license information of 

13 the medical practitioner involved in 

14 issuing the prescription facilitated in 

15 part by the registrant’s domain name 

16 where practitioner licensure is legally 

17 required in such jurisdiction. 

18 ‘‘(B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—With19 in 15 days after receiving a request under sub20 paragraph (A)(i), a registry operator or reg21 istrar shall provide the requested information. 

22 ‘‘(C) INVESTIGATION.—The applicable 

23 trusted notifier shall— 

24 ‘‘(i) conduct a reasonable investigation 

25 regarding the registrant and its domain 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 6352 IH

1 name to determine whether notification 

2 under subsection (a) was improper; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) in conducting such investigation, 

4 consider the information provided by the 

5 registrant under subparagraph (A). 

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

7 is successful, the registry operator or registrar 

8 shall lift the suspension and unlock the domain 

9 name within 15 days. 

10 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec11 tion prohibits a registry operator or registrar from locking 

12 and suspending a domain name used to facilitate the on13 line sale of drugs illegally before receipt of a notification 

14 under this section from a trusted notifier. 

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

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

17 means a name that— 

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

19 internet that belongs to a particular person; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(B) consists of two or more textual seg22 ments separated by dots. 

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

24 ONLINE SALE OF DRUGS ILLEGALLY.—The term ‘do25 main name used to facilitate the online sale of drugs 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 6352 IH

1 illegally’ means a domain name that identifies a lo2 cation on the internet the primary or a significant 

3 purpose of which is to introduce or deliver for intro4 duction into interstate commerce a drug or con5 trolled substance in violation of this Act or the Con6 trolled Substances Act. 

7 ‘‘(3) LOCK.—The term ‘lock’ means, with re8 spect to a domain name, for the registry operator or 

9 registrar to systematically prevent the domain name 

10 from being updated, transferred, or deleted during 

11 the balance of the registration of the domain name, 

12 which may be achieved using domain name registra13 tion protocols. 

14 ‘‘(4) PRESCRIPTION DRUG.—The term ‘pre15 scription drug’ means a drug subject to section 

16 503(b)(1). 

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

18 an organization that— 

19 ‘‘(A) manages the registration of domain 

20 names; and 

21 ‘‘(B) during the registration process— 

22 ‘‘(i) verifies that the requested domain 

23 name meets registry requirements; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) submits the name to the appro25 priate registry operator. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 6352 IH

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

2 authoritative master database of the domain names 

3 registered in a top-level domain. 

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

5 operator’ means an organization that maintains a 

6 registry, including by— 

7 ‘‘(A) receiving requests from registrars to 

8 add, delete, or modify domain names; and 

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

10 registry. 

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

12 with respect to a domain name, for the registry op13 erator or registrar to systematically disable the 

14 functionality of the domain name through a hold or 

15 suspension during the balance of the registration of 

16 the domain name, which may be achieved using do17 main name registration protocols. 

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

19 notifier’ includes the following (and the designees 

20 and agents thereof): 

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

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

23 the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

24 ‘‘(C) The Department of Homeland Secu25 rity. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 6352 IH

1 ‘‘(D) A State attorney general. 

2 ‘‘(E) A State board of pharmacy. 

3 ‘‘(F) A nonprofit organization with a mem4 bership or governance comprised exclusively of 

5 representatives of— 

6 ‘‘(i) agencies or officials specified in 

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

8 ‘‘(ii) similarly positioned (as deter9 mined by the Commissioner of Food and 

10 Drugs) agencies or officials. 

11 ‘‘(G) Any entity currently under contract 

12 or in a public-private partnership with the Food 

13 and Drug Administration or the Drug Enforce14 ment Agency to share information related to 

15 online drug sales. 

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

17 Food and Drug Administration as a trusted no18 tifier for purposes of this section, taking into 

19 consideration, at minimum, whether the enti20 ty— 

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

22 United States; 

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

24 upon request, with the Food and Drug AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:24 Dec 30, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6352.IH H6352

pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 6352 IH

1 ministration and the Drug Enforcement 

2 Agency; 

3 ‘‘(iii) does not knowingly or with will4 ful ignorance approve or do business with 

5 entities that fail to adhere to the regula6 tions of the Food and Drug Administration 

7 or the Drug Enforcement Agency; and 

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

9 such entity policies and procedures for how 

10 the entity will issue notifications under 

11 subsection (a).’’. 

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

13 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 331) is amend14 ed by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(fff) The failure by a registry operator or registrar 

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

17 violation of section 524B.’’. 

18 (c) APPLICABILITY.—Sections 301(fff) and 524B of 

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

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

21 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS