119-hr1795

[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.
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