I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1933
To reduce unsolicited commercial electronic mail and to protect children 
from sexually oriented advertisements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2003
Ms. LOFGREN (for herself, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. FRANK of 
Massachusetts, and Ms. HARMAN) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently de-
termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To reduce unsolicited commercial electronic mail and to 
protect children from sexually oriented advertisements.
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 ‘‘Restrict and Eliminate 
the Delivery of Unsolicited Commercial Electronic Mail or 
Spam Act of 2003’’ or the ‘‘REDUCE Spam Act of 
2003’’.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) COMMERCIAL
ELECTRONIC
MAIL
MES-
SAGE.—The term ‘‘commercial electronic mail mes-
sage’’ means any electronic mail message the pri-
mary purpose of which is the commercial advertise-
ment or promotion of a commercial product or serv-
ice. An electronic mail message shall not be consid-
ered to be a commercial electronic mail message 
solely because such message includes a reference to 
a commercial entity that serves to identify the send-
er or a reference or link to an Internet website oper-
ated for a commercial purpose. An electronic mail 
message shall not be considered to be a commercial 
electronic mail message if the sender has established 
a personal relationship with the recipient. 
(2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 
means the Federal Trade Commission. 
(3) ELECTRONIC MAIL ADDRESS.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘electronic 
mail address’’ means a destination (commonly 
expressed as a string of characters) to which an 
electronic mail message can be sent or deliv-
ered. 
(B) INCLUSION.—In the case of the Inter-
net, the term ‘‘electronic mail address’’ may in-
(7) INTERNET.—The term ‘‘Internet’’ has the 
meaning given that term in section 231(e)(3) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 231(e)(3)). 
(8) INTERNET
ACCESS
SERVICE.—The term 
‘‘Internet access service’’ has the meaning given that 
term in section 231(e)(4) of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 231(e)(4)). 
(9) PRE-EXISTING BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP.—
The term ‘‘pre-existing business relationship’’, when 
used with respect to a commercial electronic mail 
message, means that either of the following cir-
cumstances exist: 
(A) PREVIOUS BUSINESS TRANSACTION.—
(i) Within the 5-year period ending 
upon receipt of a commercial electronic 
mail message, there has been a business 
transaction between the sender and the re-
cipient, including a transaction involving 
the provision, free of charge, of informa-
tion, goods, or services requested by the re-
cipient; and 
(ii) the recipient was, at the time of 
such transaction or thereafter, provided a 
clear and conspicuous notice of an oppor-
tunity not to receive further commercial
electronic mail messages from the sender 
and has not exercised such opportunity. 
(B) OPT IN.—The recipient has given the 
sender permission to initiate commercial elec-
tronic mail messages to the electronic mail ad-
dress of the recipient and has not subsequently 
revoked such permission. 
If a sender operates through separate lines of busi-
ness or divisions and holds itself out to the recipient 
as that particular line of business or division, then 
such line of business or division shall be treated as 
the sender for purposes of this paragraph. 
(10) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘recipient’’, when 
used with respect to a commercial electronic mail 
message, means the addressee of such message. 
(11) SENDER.—The term ‘‘sender’’, when used 
with respect to a commercial electronic mail mes-
sage, means the person who initiates such message. 
The term ‘‘sender’’ does not include a provider of 
Internet access service whose role with respect to 
electronic mail messages is limited to handling, 
transmitting, retransmitting, or relaying such mes-
sages. 
(12) UNSOLICITED
COMMERCIAL
ELECTRONIC 
MAIL MESSAGE.—The term ‘‘unsolicited commercial
electronic mail message’’ means any commercial 
electronic mail message that meets both of the fol-
lowing requirements: 
(A) The electronic mail message is ad-
dressed to a recipient with whom the sender 
does not have a pre-existing business relation-
ship. 
(B) The electronic mail message is not 
sent at the request of, or with the express con-
sent of, the recipient. 
SEC. 3. COMMERCIAL ELECTRONIC MAIL CONTAINING 
FRAUDULENT HEADER OR ROUTING INFOR-
MATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 63 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘§ 1351. Unsolicited commercial electronic mail con-
taining fraudulent header information 
‘‘(a) Whoever initiates the transmission of any unso-
licited commercial electronic mail message, with knowledge 
and intent that the message contains or is accompanied 
by header information that is false or materially mis-
leading, shall be fined or imprisoned for not more than 
1 year, or both, under this title.
‘‘(b) For purposes of this section, the terms ‘unsolic-
ited commercial electronic mail message’ and ‘header in-
formation’ have the meanings given such terms in section 
2 of the REDUCE Spam Act of 2003.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The chapter anal-
ysis at the beginning of chapter 63 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘1351. Unsolicited commercial electronic mail.’’.
SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL 
ELECTRONIC MAIL. 
(a) SUBJECT LINE REQUIREMENTS.—It shall be un-
lawful for any person to initiate the transmission of an 
unsolicited commercial electronic mail message to an elec-
tronic mail address within the United States, unless the 
subject line includes: 
(1) COMMERCIAL
ADVERTISEMENTS.—Except 
in the case of an unsolicited commercial electronic 
mail message described in paragraph (2)—
(A) an identification that complies with the 
standards adopted by the Internet Engineering 
Task Force for identification of unsolicited 
commercial electronic mail messages; or 
(B) in the case of the absence of such 
standards, ‘‘ADV:’’ as the first four characters.
(2) ADULT ADVERTISEMENTS.—In the case of 
an unsolicited commercial electronic mail message 
that contains material that may only be viewed, pur-
chased, rented, leased, or held in possession by an 
individual 18 years of age and older—
(A) an identification that complies with the 
standards adopted by the Internet Engineering 
Task Force for identification of adult-oriented 
unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages; 
or 
(B) in the case of the absence of such 
standards, ‘‘ADV:ADLT’’ as the first eight 
characters. 
(b) RETURN ADDRESS REQUIREMENTS.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—It shall be unlawful for 
any person to initiate the transmission of an unsolic-
ited commercial electronic mail message to an elec-
tronic mail address within the United States, unless 
the sender establishes a valid sender-operated return 
electronic mail address where the recipient may no-
tify the sender not to send any further commercial 
electronic mail messages. 
(2) INCLUDED
STATEMENT.—All unsolicited 
commercial electronic mail messages subject to this 
subsection shall include a statement informing the
recipient of the valid return electronic mail address 
referred to in paragraph (1). 
(3) PROHIBITION OF SENDING AFTER OBJEC-
TION.—Upon notification or confirmation by a re-
cipient of his or her request not to receive any fur-
ther unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages, 
it shall be unlawful for a person, or anyone acting 
on that person’s behalf, to send any unsolicited com-
mercial electronic mail message to that recipient. 
Such a request shall be deemed to terminate a pre-
existing business relationship for purposes of deter-
mining whether subsequent messages are unsolicited 
commercial electronic mail messages. 
(c) HEADER
AND SUBJECT HEADING REQUIRE-
MENTS.—
(1) FALSE OR MISLEADING HEADER INFORMA-
TION.—It shall be unlawful for any person to initiate 
the transmission of an unsolicited commercial elec-
tronic mail message that such person knows, or rea-
sonably should know, contains or is accompanied by 
header information that is false or materially mis-
leading. 
(2) DECEPTIVE SUBJECT HEADINGS.—It shall 
be unlawful for any person to initiate the trans-
mission of an unsolicited commercial electronic mail