On November 16, 2015, the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate’s amended version of the Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act (H.R. 639). We previously described how the version of H.R. 639 originally passed by the House gave manufacturers clarity and security on the timing of DEA actions related to the entrance of new drugs into the market. The Senate’s amendment maintains these provisions and then sweetens the deal, with one exception.
What’s New: H.R. 639 allows for re-exportation among EEA countries without prior approval by DEA
Now, H.R. 639 incorporates the provisions of H.R. 2340, another bill introduced this session by Congressman Pitts. These provisions amend the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act to remove regulatory barriers to the re-exportation of controlled substances among members of the European Economic Area (the free trade zone uniting the EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) (“EEA”). The Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) and DEA regulations currently impose conditions under which a drug in Schedule I or II or a narcotic drug in Schedule III or IV may be exported to a “first country” and then re-exported to one or more than one “second country.” If H.R. 639 becomes law, re-exportation within the EEA would change in the following ways:
On November 4, 2015, DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg 
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On May 20, 2015, 
On May 5, 2015, the 
