[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3608 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3608

To amend the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit third-party Internet 
sales sites from posting offers to sell controlled substances, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2005

 Mr. Sweeney introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
   the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Controlled Substances Act to prohibit third-party Internet 
sales sites from posting offers to sell controlled substances, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Internet Drug Sales Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SALES OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES THROUGH THIRD-PARTY INTERNET 
              SALES SITES.

    The Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.) is amended by 
inserting after section 423 the following section:

``SEC. 424. PROHIBITIONS REGARDING SALES OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES 
              THROUGH THIRD-PARTY INTERNET SALES SITES.

    ``(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (d), it is unlawful for a 
person who controls a third-party Internet sales site--
            ``(1) to accept for posting on the site an offer to sell an 
        item that the person knows is a controlled substance; or
            ``(2) to fail to promptly remove from the site an offer to 
        sell an item when a Federal or State official notifies the 
        person, in accordance with subsection (e), that the item is a 
        controlled substance.
    ``(b) Third-Party Internet Sales Site.--For purposes of this 
section, the term `third-party Internet sales site' means an Internet 
site, operated as part of a business, that permits users of the site to 
post an offer to sell an item directly to a consumer.
    ``(c) Advertising.--For purposes of this section, the term `offer', 
with respect to the sale of an item, includes an advertisement for the 
sale of the item.
    ``(d) Exclusion Regarding Licensed Pharmacies.--Subsection (a) does 
not have any applicability with respect to the sale of controlled 
substances by a licensed pharmacy, including a licensed Internet 
pharmacy.
    ``(e) Notice Regarding Controlled Substance.--A person who controls 
a third-party Internet sales site shall create a system for receipt of 
notice under subsection (a)(2) in accordance with this subsection if 
the notice is in writing and the notice--
            ``(1) specifies this section as the relevant statutory 
        authority;
            ``(2) specifies the name, title, physical address, and 
        contact information of the Federal or State official or 
        officials who sent the notice;
            ``(3) specifies the third-party Internet site involved;
            ``(4) specifies the offer with which the notice is 
        concerned, including the controlled substance involved;
            ``(5) specifies the location of the offer on the site 
        through the uniform resource locator (commonly referred to as 
        the URL) or through the Internet Protocol numbers that 
        constitute the address of the location; and
            ``(6) is provided to the designated agent of the third-
        party Internet sales site designated in accordance with section 
        512 of title 17, United States Code, if the site has designated 
        such an agent.
    ``(f) Penalties.--
            ``(1) Criminal penalties.--
                    ``(A) First conviction.--A person who violates 
                subsection (a) shall be fined under title 18, United 
                States Code, or imprisoned not more than one year, or 
                both, subject to subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Subsequent convictions.--If a person commits 
                a violation of subsection (a) after a single prior 
                conviction of the person under this paragraph, the 
                person shall for such violation be fined under title 
                18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 
                five years, or both. If a person commits a violation of 
                such subsection after two or more prior convictions of 
                the person under this paragraph, the person shall for 
                such violation be fined under such title or imprisoned 
                not more than 10 years, or both.
            ``(2) Civil penalty.--A person who violates a requirement 
        under subsection (e) is subject to a civil penalty not 
        exceeding $1,000,000 for each such violation.
    ``(g) Protection for Identifying and Removing Illegal Offers.--
            ``(1) Monitoring and removal of offers.--A third-party 
        Internet sales site should monitor and remove in good faith any 
        posting of an offer to sell an item that the third-party 
        Internet sales site believes to violate Federal or State law, 
        or that is the subject of a notice described in subsection (e).
            ``(2) Protection against liability.--A third-party Internet 
        sales site that in good faith monitors and removes any posting 
        in accordance with paragraph (1) shall not be liable under any 
        Federal or State law.
    ``(h) Additional Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) The term `control', with respect to an Internet site, 
        means to have the legal right to exercise control over all or 
        substantially all of the content of the site, without regard to 
        the extent to which such authority actually is exercised.
            ``(2) The term `Internet' means collectively the myriad of 
        computer and telecommunications facilities, including equipment 
        and operating software, which comprise the interconnected 
        world-wide network of networks that employ the transmission 
        control protocol/internet protocol, or any predecessor or 
        successor protocols to such protocol, to communicate 
        information of all kinds by wire or radio.
            ``(3) The terms `Internet site', with respect to the 
        Internet, mean a specific location on the Internet that is 
        determined by Internet Protocol numbers or by any successor 
        protocol for determining a specific location on the Internet.
            ``(4) The term `licensed Internet pharmacy' mean an 
        Internet site that is controlled by a licensed pharmacy and is 
        used by such pharmacy to make sales of controlled substances or 
        other drugs.
            ``(5) The term `licensed pharmacy' means a person who is 
        licensed as a pharmacy under applicable Federal or State law.
            ``(6) The term `remove', with respect to an offer posted on 
        a third-party Internet sales site, includes disabling public 
        access to the offer.''.
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