I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6393 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for internet openness 
requirements for broadband internet access service providers, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 17, 2018 
Mr. COFFMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for 
internet openness requirements for broadband internet 
access service providers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘21st Century Internet 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE. 
The Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘TITLE VIII—BROADBAND 
INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE 
‘‘SEC. 801. INTERNET OPENNESS. 
‘‘(a) NO BLOCKING.—A broadband internet access 
service provider may not— 
‘‘(1) block lawful content, applications, or serv-
ices, subject to reasonable network management; 
‘‘(2) charge an edge provider a fee to avoid 
blocking of the content, applications, or services pro-
vided by the edge provider; or 
‘‘(3) prohibit, restrict, or penalize the use of 
non-harmful devices on the network of the broad-
band internet access service provider, subject to rea-
sonable network management. 
‘‘(b) NO THROTTLING.—A broadband internet access 
service provider may not— 
‘‘(1) impair, degrade, slow down, speed up, or 
enhance lawful internet traffic on the basis of inter-
net content, application, source, destination, service, 
or use of a non-harmful device, or any particular 
class of content, application, source, destination, 
service, or non-harmful device, subject to reasonable 
network management; or 
‘‘(2) charge an edge provider a fee to avoid the 
impairment, degradation, or slowing down of inter-
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net traffic of the edge provider, or for the speeding 
up or enhancement of such traffic, on the basis of 
internet content, application, source, destination, 
service, or use of a non-harmful device, or any par-
ticular class of content, application, source, destina-
tion, service, or non-harmful device. 
‘‘(c) NO
PAID
PREFERENTIAL
TREATMENT.—A 
broadband internet access service provider may not engage 
in paid preferential treatment. 
‘‘(d) NO UNREASONABLE INTERFERENCE OR DIS-
ADVANTAGE STANDARD FOR INTERNET CONDUCT.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A broadband internet ac-
cess service provider may not unreasonably interfere 
with or disadvantage— 
‘‘(A) the ability of end users to select, ac-
cess, and use broadband internet access service 
or the lawful content, applications, services, or 
devices chosen by such end users, including any 
particular class of content, application, service, 
or device; or 
‘‘(B) the ability of edge providers to make 
available to end users lawful content, applica-
tions, services, or devices, including any par-
ticular class of content, application, service, or 
device. 
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‘‘(c) COMPATIBILITY.—Whenever the requirements of 
subsections (a) and (b) are not readily achievable, such 
a manufacturer or provider shall ensure that the equip-
ment or service is compatible with existing peripheral de-
vices or specialized broadband customer premises equip-
ment commonly used by individuals with disabilities to 
achieve access, if readily achievable. 
‘‘(d) GUIDELINES.—Not later than 6 months after 
the date of the enactment of this title, the Architectural 
and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board shall de-
velop guidelines for accessibility of broadband equipment 
and broadband customer premises equipment in conjunc-
tion with the Commission. The Board shall review and up-
date the guidelines periodically. 
‘‘(e) NO ADDITIONAL PRIVATE RIGHTS AUTHOR-
IZED.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to au-
thorize any private right of action to enforce any require-
ment of this section or any regulation thereunder. The 
Commission shall have exclusive jurisdiction with respect 
to any complaint under this section. 
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) BROADBAND CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIP-
MENT.—The term ‘broadband customer premises 
equipment’ means equipment employed on the prem-
ises of a person (other than a broadband internet ac-
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cess service provider) to originate, route, or termi-
nate broadband internet access services. 
‘‘(2) 
BROADBAND
EQUIPMENT.—The 
term 
‘broadband equipment’ means equipment, other than 
broadband customer premises equipment, used by a 
broadband internet access service provider to provide 
broadband internet access service, and includes soft-
ware integral to such equipment (including up-
grades). 
‘‘(3) DISABILITY.—The term ‘disability’ has the 
meaning given such term in section 3(1)(A) of the 
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
12102(1)(A)). 
‘‘(4) READILY ACHIEVABLE.—The term ‘readily 
achievable’ has the meaning given such term in sec-
tion 301(9) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 12181(9)). 
‘‘SEC. 805. COMMISSION AUTHORITY. 
‘‘(a) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 
It shall be unlawful for a broadband internet access service 
provider to engage in unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 
‘‘(b) GENERAL ENFORCEMENT AND IMPLEMENTA-
TION AUTHORITY.—In addition to the authority with re-
spect to complaints under subsection (c), the Commission 
shall have the authority to initiate investigations, bring en-
forcement actions, issue declaratory rulings, conduct 
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rulemakings, and take such other actions consistent with 
sections 4(i) and 403 as are necessary to implement the 
requirements of this title. Nothing in this title shall alter 
the power of the Commission to impose forfeitures under 
title V. 
‘‘(c) COMPLAINTS.— 
‘‘(1) FORMAL COMPLAINTS.—The Commission 
shall enforce the obligations established in this title 
through adjudication of complaints, under existing 
Commission complaint protocol. 
‘‘(2) INFORMAL
COMPLAINTS.—The Commis-
sion may investigate informal complaints. Any such 
complaint shall set forth clearly and concisely the 
facts relied upon, the relief sought, the statutory or 
regulatory provisions (if any) pursuant to which the 
complaint is filed and under which relief is sought, 
and the interest of the person submitting the com-
plaint. 
‘‘(d) FORBEARANCE AUTHORITY INAPPLICABLE.— 
The authority of the Commission under section 10 shall 
not apply to this title or a regulation promulgated under 
this title. 
‘‘SEC. 806. PRESCRIPTIVE RATE REGULATION. 
‘‘Nothing in this title shall be construed to grant au-
thority to the Commission to prescribe the rate that a 
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broadband internet access service provider may charge for 
such service in advance of the provision of such service. 
‘‘SEC. 807. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this title: 
‘‘(1) BROADBAND
INTERNET
ACCESS
SERV-
ICE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘broadband 
internet access service’ means a mass market 
retail service by wire or radio that provides the 
capability to transmit data to and receive data 
from all or substantially all internet endpoints, 
including any capabilities that are incidental to 
and enable the operation of the communications 
service, but excluding dial-up internet access 
service. 
‘‘(B) 
FUNCTIONAL
EQUIVALENT; 
EVA-
SION.—Such term includes any service that— 
‘‘(i) the Commission finds to be pro-
viding a functional equivalent of the service 
described in subparagraph (A); or 
‘‘(ii) is used to evade the obligations 
set forth in this title. 
‘‘(2) BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS SERVICE 
PROVIDER.—The term ‘broadband internet access 
service provider’ means a person engaged in the pro-
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vision of broadband internet access service, insofar 
as such person is so engaged. 
‘‘(3) EDGE
PROVIDER.—The term ‘edge pro-
vider’ means any person who provides— 
‘‘(A) any content, application, or service 
over the internet; or 
‘‘(B) a device used for accessing any con-
tent, application, or service over the internet. 
‘‘(4) END USER.—The term ‘end user’ means 
any person who uses a broadband internet access 
service. 
‘‘(5) NETWORK MANAGEMENT PRACTICE.—The 
term ‘network management practice’ means a prac-
tice that has an exclusively technical network man-
agement justification, but such term does not in-
clude other business practices. 
‘‘(6) PAID
PREFERENTIAL
TREATMENT.—The 
term ‘paid preferential treatment’ means the man-
agement of the network of a broadband internet ac-
cess service provider to directly or indirectly favor 
some internet traffic in relation to other internet 
traffic, including through the use of techniques such 
as traffic shaping, prioritization, resource reserva-
tion, or other forms of preferential traffic manage-
ment, either— 
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