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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1795 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1795
To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommunications
companies engaged in economic or industrial espionage against United
States persons, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 3, 2025
Ms. Houlahan (for herself and Mr. Strong) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommunications
companies engaged in economic or industrial espionage against United
States persons, 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 ``Neutralizing Emerging Threats from
Wireless OEMs Receiving direction from Kleptocracies and Surveillance
states Act'' or the ``NETWORKS Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) secure telecommunications networks, both domestically
and within partner and allied nations, are important to the
national security of the United States;
(2) the risks posed by untrusted telecommunications
vendors, particularly those based in the People's Republic of
China, to communications, data security, and the viability of
networks outweigh any potential benefits; and
(3) the United States Government should use the tools of
economic statecraft to promote secure telecommunications
networks.
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO ECONOMIC OR INDUSTRIAL
ESPIONAGE BY FOREIGN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES.
(a) In General.--On and after the date that is 90 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall exercise all of
the powers granted to the President under the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to
block and prohibit all significant transactions in property and
interests in property of a foreign person described in subsection (b)
if such property and interests in property are in the United States,
come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or
control of a United States person.
(b) Foreign Persons Described.--A foreign person is described in
this subsection if the President determines that the person, on or
after the date of the enactment of this Act--
(1) produces fifth or future generation telecommunications
technology; and
(2) conducts business relating to such telecommunications
technology in a manner contrary to the United States' national
security interests.
(c) Exceptions.--
(1) Exception for intelligence activities.--Sanctions under
this section shall not apply to any activity subject to the
reporting requirements under title V of the National Security
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized
intelligence activities of the United States.
(2) Exception relating to the provision of humanitarian
assistance.--Sanctions under this section may not be imposed
with respect to transactions or the facilitation of
transactions for--
(A) the sale of agricultural commodities, food,
medicine, or medical devices;
(B) the provision of humanitarian assistance;
(C) financial transactions relating to humanitarian
assistance; or
(D) transporting goods or services that are
necessary to carry out operations relating to
humanitarian assistance.
(d) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of sanctions
under this section with respect to a foreign person for renewable
periods of not more than 90 days each if the President determines and
reports to Congress that such a waiver is vital to the national
security interests of the United States.
(e) Implementation; Penalties.--
(1) Implementation.--The President may exercise the
authorities provided to the President under sections 203 and
205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50
U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this
section.
(2) Penalties.--A person that violates, attempts to
violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of
subsection (a) or any regulation, license, or order issued to
carry out that subsection shall be subject to the penalties set
forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to
the same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act
described in subsection (a) of that section.
(f) Definitions.--
(1) In general.--In this section:
(A) Fifth or future generation telecommunications
technology.--The term ``fifth or future generation
telecommunications technology'' means
telecommunications technology that conforms to the
technical standards followed by the telecommunications
industry for telecommunications technology that is
commonly known in the industry as fifth generation or
future generation technology.
(B) Foreign person.--The term ``foreign person''
means any person that is not a United States person.
(C) Knowingly.--The term ``knowingly'', with
respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, means
that a person has actual knowledge, or should have
known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the result.
(D) Person.--The term ``person'' means an
individual or entity.
(E) United states person.--The term ``United States
person'' means--
(i) a United States citizen or an alien
lawfully admitted for permanent residence to
the United States; or
(ii) an entity organized under the laws of
the United States or any jurisdiction within
the United States, including a foreign branch
of such an entity.
(F) Untrusted telecommunications vendor.--The term
``untrusted telecommunications vendor'' has the meaning
given to the term ``covered communications equipment or
service'' in section 9 of the Secure and Trusted
Communications Network Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608).
(2) Determination of significance.--For the purposes of
this section, in determining if transactions are significant,
the President may consider the totality of the facts and
circumstances, including factors similar to the factors set
forth in section 561.404 of title 31, Code of Federal
Regulations (or any corresponding similar regulation or
ruling).
(3) Rule of construction.--For purposes of this section, a
transaction shall not be construed to include--
(A) participation in an international standards-
setting body or the activities of such a body; or
(B) a transaction involving existing third or
fourth generation telecommunications networks.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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