This legislation was first introduced under the title "Drug Import Fairness Act" by Rep. Gil Gutknecht on November 5, 1999. It passed the House of Representatives on July 11, 2001 by a vote of 324-101. If it is becomes law, it will allow American consumers to re-import medicines from Europe and Canada. However, it does not allow parallel importation by reimportation by pharmacists and wholesalers. Another amendment, with language identical to H.R. 1885 of the 106th Congress (see below), was rejected by a vote of 267-159. This would have allowed parallel imports of pharmaceuticals.

• Text of the legislation.
• Statements from Rep. Gutknecht.
  • July 11, 2001. Gutknecht Prescription Drug Importation Amendment Passes Overwhelmingly.
  • June 26, 2001. Gutknecht to Introduce Prescription Drug Importation Amendment.
• Other Statements
  • July 11, 2001. Rep. Bernie Sanders. U.S. House Adopts Narrow Reimportation Provision.
• News Stories
  • July 11, 2001. Sarah Lueck for the Wall Street Journal. Pharmaceuticals Industry Pushes House to Defeat Drug Legislation.
  • July 11, 2001. Robert Pear for the New York Times. Measure Easing Drug Imports Passes in House.
  • July 11, 2001. Adam Entous for Reuters. House Backs Limited Drug Import Plan.
  • October 9, 2001. Bureau of National Affairs' Regulation, Law and Economics. Terrorism Concerns Poison Efforts To Pass Drug Reimportation Measure.

The House bill was introduced by Rep. Marion Berry on behalf of himself and Reps. Sanders, Emerson, Rohrabacher, Abercrombie and Lewis on May 20, 1999. The Senate bill was introduced on May 9, 2000 by Sen. Jim Jeffords on behalf of himself and Sens. Wellstone, Snowe and Collins. It passed by a vote of 74-21 on July 19, 2000 (Sens. Lott, Torricelli, Biden and Hollings did not vote). President Clinton signed the measure into law on October 28, but then-DHHS Secretary Shalala refused to implement the legislation, citing safety concerns. Current DHHS Secretary Tompson also refuses to implement the legislation.

• H.R. 1885
  • Text of the legislation.
  • Statements
    • January 6, 2001. Medical Inflation. Rep. Bernie Sanders' op-ed on the legislation.
    • September 19, 2000. Office of Bernie Sanders. Sanders Releases Report Detailing FDA Commissioner's Drug Industry Ties.
    • December 9, 1999. Office of Rep. Marion Berry. Berry Praises American Medical Association Resolution in Support of Reimportation of Prescription Drugs.

• S. 2520
  • Text of the Legislation.
  • Debate and Vote on the Legislation.

• DHHS Secretary Thompson's Position
  • July 10, 2001. DHHS press release. Secretary Thompson Determines that Safety Problems Make Drug Reimportation Infeasible.
  • July 10, 2001. CPT Comment on the DHHS Press Release.

• News Stories
  • January 5, 2001. Fixing the Drug Import Bill. New York Times editorial on the scuttled parallel import legislation.
  • January 2, 2001. A Cancelled Drug Bill. Washington Post editorial on the legislation.
  • December 29, 2000. Jefford's Drug Plan Quashed. Vermont News Bureau story on the legislation.
  • December 27, 2000. Shalala Halts Bid To Lower Drug Costs. Washington Post story on the Clinton administration's refusal to implement parallel import legislation.
  • December 26, 2000. In a Turnaround, White House Kills Drug-Import Plan. New York Times story on this matter.
  • November 6, 2000. Jane Cys for American Medical News. Price relief coming? Congress passes drug importation bill.

• Text of S. 1190 - The International Prescription Drug Parity Act, introduced on by June 9, 1999, Senator Byron Dorgan. Also, see his speech supporting the legislation.
• Text of H.R. 3636 - The Pharmaceutical Freedom Act of 2000.

• January 3, 2002. Office of Bernie Sanders. Sanders: Opposition To Prescription Drug Reimportation is Based on Drug Company Greed, Not Safety.