II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 40 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations 

that prohibit certain preferential treatment or prioritization of Internet traffic. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 7, 2015 

Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, 

and Mr. HEINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to promulgate regulations that prohibit certain preferential 

treatment or prioritization of Internet traffic. 

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 ‘‘Online Competition 

5 and Consumer Choice Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FCC REGULATIONS PROHIBITING CERTAIN PREF2 ERENTIAL TREATMENT OR PRIORITIZATION 

3 OF INTERNET TRAFFIC. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

6 promulgate regulations that— 

7 (1) prohibit a broadband provider from entering 

8 into an agreement with an edge provider under 

9 which the broadband provider agrees, for consider10 ation, in transmitting network traffic over the 

11 broadband Internet access service of an end user, to 

12 give preferential treatment or priority to the traffic 

13 of such edge provider over the traffic of other edge 

14 providers; and 

15 (2) prohibit a broadband provider, in transmit16 ting network traffic over the broadband Internet ac17 cess service of an end user, from giving preferential 

18 treatment or priority to the traffic of content, appli19 cations, services, or devices that are provided or op20 erated by such broadband provider, or an affiliate of 

21 such broadband provider, over the traffic of other 

22 content, applications, services, or devices. 

23 (b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

24 (1) CERTAIN TRAFFIC NOT AFFECTED.—Noth25 ing in this section shall be construed as superseding 

26 any obligation or authorization a broadband provider 


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1 may have to address the needs of emergency commu2 nications or law enforcement, public safety, or na3 tional security authorities, consistent with or as per4 mitted by applicable law, or as limiting the ability of 

5 the provider to do so. 

6 (2) CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY.—Nothing 

7 in this section shall be construed as limiting the au8 thority of the Commission under any other provision 

9 of law, including the authority to promulgate regula10 tions prohibiting or limiting preferential treatment 

11 or prioritization of the traffic of an edge provider by 

12 a broadband provider under GN Docket No. 14–28 

13 (relating to the matter of protecting and promoting 

14 the open Internet). 

15 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—For purposes of sections 

16 503(b) and 504 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

17 U.S.C. 503(b); 504), this section shall be considered to 

18 be a part of such Act. With respect to enforcement under 

19 this section only, the following modifications of such sec20 tion 503(b) shall apply: 

21 (1) Paragraph (5) shall not apply. 

22 (2) Paragraph (6) shall be applied by sub23 stituting the following: ‘‘No forfeiture penalty shall 

24 be determined or imposed against any person under 

25 this subsection if the violation charged occurred 


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1 more than 3 years prior to the date of issuance of 

2 the required notice or notice of apparent liability.’’. 

3 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘‘affiliate’’ has the 

5 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Commu6 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

7 (2) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE.— 

8 The term ‘‘broadband Internet access service’’ has 

9 the meaning given such term in section 8.11 of title 

10 47, Code of Federal Regulations. 

11 (3) BROADBAND PROVIDER.—The term 

12 ‘‘broadband provider’’ means a provider of 

13 broadband Internet access service. 

14 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

15 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

16 (5) EDGE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘edge pro17 vider’’ means an individual, institution, or other en18 tity that provides— 

19 (A) any content, application, or service 

20 over the Internet; or 

21 (B) a device used for accessing any con22 tent, application, or service over the Internet. 


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1 (6) END USER.—The term ‘‘end user’’ means 

2 an individual, institution, or other entity that uses a 

3 broadband Internet access service. 

Æ 


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