I 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4342 
To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
from relinquishing responsibility over the Internet domain name system 
until the Comptroller General of the United States submits to Congress 
a report on the role of the NTIA with respect to such system. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 27, 2014 
Mr. SHIMKUS (for himself, Mr. ROKITA, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. LATTA, Mr. 
BARTON, and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Informa-
tion Administration from relinquishing responsibility over 
the Internet domain name system until the Comptroller 
General of the United States submits to Congress a 
report on the role of the NTIA with respect to such 
system. 
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 ‘‘Domain Openness 
Through Continued Oversight Matters Act of 2014’’ or 
the ‘‘DOTCOM Act of 2014’’. 
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SEC. 2. NTIA RETENTION OF DNS RESPONSIBILITIES PEND-
ING GAO REPORT. 
(a) RETENTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES.—Until the 
Comptroller General of the United States submits the re-
port required by subsection (b), the Assistant Secretary 
of Commerce for Communications and Information may 
not relinquish or agree to any proposal relating to the re-
linquishment of the responsibility of the National Tele-
communications and Information Administration (in this 
section referred to as the ‘‘NTIA’’) over Internet domain 
name system functions, including responsibility with re-
spect to the authoritative root zone file, the Internet As-
signed Numbers Authority functions, and related root 
zone management functions. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
on which the NTIA receives a proposal relating to the re-
linquishment of the responsibility of the NTIA over Inter-
net domain name system functions that was developed in 
a process convened by the Internet Corporation for As-
signed Names and Numbers at the request of the NTIA, 
the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 
to Congress a report on the role of the NTIA with respect 
to the Internet domain name system. Such report shall 
include— 
(1) a discussion and analysis of— 
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(A) the advantages and disadvantages of 
relinquishment of the responsibility of the 
NTIA over Internet domain name system func-
tions, including responsibility with respect to 
the authoritative root zone file, the Internet As-
signed Numbers Authority functions, and re-
lated root zone management functions; 
(B) any principles or criteria that the 
NTIA sets for proposals for such relinquish-
ment; 
(C) each proposal received by the NTIA 
for such relinquishment; 
(D) the processes used by the NTIA and 
any other Federal agencies for evaluating such 
proposals; and 
(E) any national security concerns raised 
by such relinquishment; and 
(2) a definition of the term ‘‘multistakeholder 
model’’, as used by the NTIA with respect to Inter-
net policymaking and governance, and definitions of 
any other terms necessary to understand the matters 
covered by the report. 
Æ 
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