Mutations in the human SLC26A3 gene, also known as down‐regulated in adenoma (hDRA), cause autosomal recessive congenital chloride‐losing diarrhoea (CLD). hDRA expressed in Xenopus oocytes mediated bidirectional Cl⁻‐Cl⁻ and Cl⁻‐HCO₃⁻ exchange. In contrast, transport of oxalate was low, and transport of sulfate and of butyrate was undetectable. Two CLD missense disease mutants of hDRA were nonfunctional in oocytes. Truncation of up to 44 C‐terminal amino acids from the putatively cytoplasmic C‐terminal hydrophilic domain left transport function unimpaired, but deletion of the adjacent STAS (sulfate transporter anti‐sigma factor antagonist) domain abolished function. hDRA‐mediated Cl⁻ transport was insensitive to changing extracellular pH, but was inhibited by intracellular acidification and activated by NH₄⁺ at acidifying concentrations. These regulatory responses did not require the presence of either hDRA's N‐terminal cytoplasmic tail or its 44 C‐terminal amino acids, but they did require more proximate residues of the C‐terminal cytoplasmic domain. Although only weakly sensitive to inhibition by stilbenes, hDRA was inhibited with two orders of magnitude greater potency by the anti‐inflammatory drugs niflumate and tenidap. cAMP‐insensitive Cl⁻‐HCO₃⁻ exchange mediated by hDRA gained modest cAMP sensitivity when co‐expressed with cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). Despite the absence of hDRA transcripts in human cell lines derived from CFTR patients, DRA mRNA was present at wild‐type levels in proximal colon and nearly so in the distal ileum of CFTR(‐/‐) mice. Thus, pharmacological modulation of DRA might be a useful adjunct treatment of cystic fibrosis.