I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1486
To impose sanctions with respect to economic or industrial espionage by
foreign adversarial companies, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2025
Mr. M
CCORMICK(for himself and Mr. MOOLENAAR) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provi-
sions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To impose sanctions with respect to economic or industrial
espionage by foreign adversarial companies, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Espionage 4
Prevention Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•HR 1486 IH
(1) On March 14, 2024, the Department of 1
State notified Congress of the following: 2
(A) People’s Republic of China exports of 3
semiconductors to Russia have increased sub-4
stantially since Russia’s full-scale invasion of 5
Ukraine. 6
(B) In the second half of 2023, China ex-7
ported between $25,000,000 and $50,000,000 8
in additional semiconductors to Russia every 9
month relative to pre-invasion levels. 10
(C) During the same period, China also ex-11
ported between $50,000,000 and $100,000,000 12
in additional exports to Russia every month to 13
known transshipment hubs. 14
(D) These exports include both Chinese 15
and United States-branded semiconductors (in-16
tegrated circuits), according to analysis of com-17
mercially available trade data by the Bureau of 18
Industry and Security of the Department of 19
Commerce, and are almost certainly supporting 20
Russia’s military capabilities based on Ukrain-21
ian analysis of recovered Russian weapons. 22
(E) Because of the prevalence of United 23
States manufacturing equipment in global semi-24
conductor supply chains, nearly all chips pro-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•HR 1486 IH
duced worldwide, including in the People’s Re-1
public of China, are subject to United States 2
export controls if destined for Russia or 3
Belarus. 4
(F) All advanced semiconductors described 5
on the Commerce Control List have been sub-6
ject to a license requirement if destined to an 7
entity in Russia since its further invasion of 8
Ukraine. 9
(2) On April 3, 2024, Deputy Secretary of 10
State, Kurt Campbell, said ‘‘I think we have as-11
sessed, over the course of the last couple of months 12
that Russia has almost completely reconstituted 13
militarily. And after the initial setbacks on the bat-14
tlefield delivered to them by a brave and hearty 15
group in Ukraine, with the support of China in par-16
ticular, dual use capabilities and a variety of other 17
efforts, industrial and commercial, Russia has re-18
tooled and now poses a threat to Ukraine . . . But 19
not just to Ukraine, its new found capabilities pose 20
a longer term challenge to stability in Europe and 21
threatens NATO allies.’’. 22
SEC. 3. REPORT. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 24
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•HR 1486 IH
in coordination with the heads of relevant Federal depart-1
ments and agencies, as appropriate, shall submit to the 2
appropriate congressional committees, a written report 3
that contains the following: 4
(1) An analysis and description of the extent to 5
which any foreign person who is a citizen of the Peo-6
ple’s Republic of China or an entity organized under 7
the laws of the People’s Republic of China, or any 8
foreign person or entity controlled by or operating at 9
the direction of the Government of the People’s Re-10
public of China— 11
(A) is knowingly a material source of crit-12
ical components necessary for the manufacture 13
of weapons, vehicles, and other military equip-14
ment by the defense industrial base of the Rus-15
sian Federation; 16
(B) has knowingly delivered critical compo-17
nents to or entered into any agreement relating 18
to the sale or delivery of critical components 19
with any entity operating in the defense or in-20
telligence sectors of the Government of the Rus-21
sian Federation; 22
(C) has knowingly delivered critical compo-23
nents to or entered into any agreement relating 24
to the sale or delivery of critical components 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•HR 1486 IH
with any country or entity with which the de-1
fense or intelligence sectors of the Government 2
of Russian Federation are cooperating in sup-3
port of Russia’s war against Ukraine; or 4
(D) has knowingly delivered critical compo-5
nents to or entered into any agreement relating 6
to the sale or delivery of critical components 7
with a foreign person that knowingly and di-8
rectly provides these components to the defense 9
or intelligence sectors of the Government of the 10
Russian Federation. 11
(2) The extent to which— 12
(A) any foreign person that is a citizen of 13
the People’s Republic of China or an entity or-14
ganized under the laws of the People’s Republic 15
of China has knowingly engaged, on or after the 16
date of the enactment of this Act, in trans-17
actions with a person that is part of, or oper-18
ates on behalf of, the defense or intelligence 19
sectors of the Government of the Russian Fed-20
eration; 21
(B) any foreign person identified pursuant 22
to subparagraph (A) has engaged in trans-23
actions which would constitute a significant 24
transaction with persons that have been sanc-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•HR 1486 IH
tioned for being part of, or operating on behalf 1
of, the defense or intelligence sectors of the 2
Government of the Russian Federation; or 3
(C) any foreign person identified pursuant 4
to subparagraph (A) has been subjected to 5
sanctions imposed pursuant to sections 231 and 6
235 of the Countering America’s Adversaries 7
Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9525 and 8
9529). 9
(b) F
ORM ANDAVAILABILITY.— 10
(1) F
ORM.—The report required by subsection 11
(a) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 12
include a classified annex. 13
(2) A
VAILABILITY.—The unclassified portion of 14
the report required by subsection (a) may also be 15
made available to the public. 16
SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO ECO-17
NOMIC OR INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE BY FOR-18
EIGN ADVERSARY ENTITIES. 19
(a) I
NGENERAL.—On and after the date that is 30 20
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi-21
dent (a) may impose the sanctions described in subsection 22
(c) against any of the foreign persons described in sub-23
section (b). 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•HR 1486 IH
(b) FOREIGNPERSONSDESCRIBED.—A foreign per-1
son is described in this subsection if the President deter-2
mines on or after the date of the enactment of this Act 3
that the person is a foreign adversary entity that know-4
ingly engages in— 5
(1) economic or industrial espionage with re-6
spect to trade secrets or proprietary information 7
owned by United States persons; 8
(2) the provision of material support or services 9
to a foreign adversaries’ military, intelligence, or 10
other national security entities; or 11
(3) the violation of United States export control 12
laws. 13
(c) S
ANCTIONSDESCRIBED.—The sanctions that 14
may be imposed with respect to a foreign person under 15
subsection (b) are the following: 16
(1) P
ROPERTY BLOCKING .—The exercise of all 17
powers granted to the President by the International 18
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 19
et seq.) to the extent necessary to block and prohibit 20
all transactions in property and interests in property 21
of the foreign person if such property and interests 22
in property are in the United States, come within 23
the United States, or are or come within the posses-24
sion or control of a United States person. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•HR 1486 IH
(2) INELIGIBILITY FOR VISAS, ADMISSION, OR 1
PAROLE.— 2
(A) V
ISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 3
alien described in subsection (b) is— 4
(i) inadmissible to the United States; 5
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 6
documentation to enter the United States; 7
and 8
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 9
or paroled into the United States or to re-10
ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-11
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 12
seq.). 13
(B) C
URRENT VISAS REVOKED .— 14
(i) I
N GENERAL.—An alien described 15
in subsection (b) is subject to revocation of 16
any visa or other entry documentation re-17
gardless of when the visa or other entry 18
documentation is or was issued. 19
(ii) I
MMEDIATE EFFECT .—A revoca-20
tion under clause (i) shall take effect im-21
mediately and automatically cancel any 22
other valid visa or entry documentation 23
that is in the alien’s possession. 24
(d) E
XCEPTIONS.— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•HR 1486 IH
(1) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVI -1
TIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply 2
to any activity subject to the reporting requirements 3
under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 4
(50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intel-5
ligence activities of the United States. 6
(2) E
XCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER -7
NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS .—Sanctions under sub-8
section (c)(2) shall not apply with respect to the ad-9
mission of an alien if admitting or paroling the alien 10
into the United States is necessary to permit the 11
United States to comply with— 12
(A) the Agreement regarding the Head-13
quarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake 14
Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 15
November 21, 1947, between the United Na-16
tions and the United States; or 17
(B) other applicable international obliga-18
tions. 19
(3) E
XCEPTION TO CARRY OUT OR ASSIST LAW 20
ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES .—Sanctions under sub-21
section (c)(2) shall not apply with respect to an alien 22
if admitting or paroling the alien into the United 23
States is necessary to carry out or assist law en-24
forcement activity in the United States. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•HR 1486 IH
(e) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-1
tion of sanctions under this section with respect to a for-2
eign person for renewable periods of not more than 180 3
days each if the President determines and submits to the 4
appropriate congressional committees a report that con-5
tains a determination of the President that such a waiver 6
is in the national security interests of the United States. 7
(f) I
MPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 8
(1) I
MPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex-9
ercise the authorities provided to the President 10
under sections 203 and 205 of the International 11
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 12
and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this 13
section. 14
(2) P
ENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-15
tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 16
violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 17
or order issued to carry out that subsection shall be 18
subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) 19
and (c) of section 206 of the International Emer-20
gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 21
same extent as a person that commits an unlawful 22
act described in subsection (a) of that section. 23
(3) P
ROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES FOR SANC -24
TIONS.—The President shall establish procedures 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•HR 1486 IH
and guidelines for the implementation and enforce-1
ment of sanctions imposed under this section. 2
(4) A
NNUAL REPORT.— 3
(A) Unless the exception in subparagraph 4
(B) applies, not later than one year after the 5
date of the enactment of this Act, and for each 6
of the 5 years thereafter, the President shall 7
submit to the appropriate congressional com-8
mittees a report on any notable developments 9
regarding economic or industrial espionage ac-10
tivities by foreign persons. 11
(B) The President shall not be required to 12
submit the annual report described by subpara-13
graph (A) if the President has imposed sanc-14
tions as authorized under this section within 15
the previous calendar year. 16
(g) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of this 17
section, a transaction shall not be construed to include 18
participation in an international standards-setting body or 19
the activities of such a body. 20
SEC. 5. CLARIFYING AMENDMENTS. 21
Section 203 of the International Emergency Eco-22
nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702) is amended— 23
(1) in subsection (b)— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 12
•HR 1486 IH
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 1
by striking ‘‘, directly or indirectly’’; 2
(B) in paragraph (3)— 3
(i) by striking ‘‘including but not lim-4
ited to’’ and all that follows through ‘‘news 5
wire feeds.’’ and inserting ‘‘except to the 6
extent that the President determines that 7
such imports and exports would seriously 8
impair his ability to deal with any national 9
emergency declared under section 202.’’; 10
and 11
(ii) by striking ‘‘under section 5 of the 12
Export Administration Act of 1979, or 13
under section 6 of such Act’’ and inserting 14
‘‘under other statutory or regulatory ex-15
port control authorities’’; and 16
(C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, ex-17
cept to the extent that the President determines 18
that such imports and exports would seriously 19
impair the ability to deal with any national 20
emergency declared under section 202’’ before 21
the period at the end; and 22
(2) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(d) R
ULES OFCONSTRUCTIONRELATING TOSEN-24
SITIVE ANDPERSONALDATA.—The communication, the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 13
•HR 1486 IH
importation to a country, or the exportation from a coun-1
try, directly or indirectly, whether commercial or other-2
wise, of bulk sensitive personal data or of source code used 3
in a connected software application may not be construed 4
to constitute— 5
‘‘(1) a ‘postal, telegraphic, telephonic, or other 6
personal communication’, for purposes of subsection 7
(b)(1); or 8
‘‘(2) an importation from a country, or an ex-9
portation to a country, of ‘information or informa-10
tional materials’, for purposes of subsection (b)(3).’’. 11
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 12
In this Act: 13
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -14
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-15
mittees’’ means— 16
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 17
the House of Representatives; and 18
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 19
the Senate. 20
(2) E
CONOMIC OR INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE .— 21
The term ‘‘economic or industrial espionage’’ has 22
the meaning given that term in section 1637(d) of 23
the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon Na-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 14
•HR 1486 IH
tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1
2015. 2
(3) F
OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-3
son’’ means any person that is not a United States 4
person. 5
(4) K
NOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 6
respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 7
means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 8
have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 9
result. 10
(5) O
WN, PROPRIETARY INFORMATION , AND 11
TRADE SECRET.—The terms ‘‘own’’, ‘‘proprietary in-12
formation’’, and ‘‘trade secret’’ have the meanings 13
given those terms in section 1637(d) of the Carl 14
Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National De-15
fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (50 16
U.S.C. 1708(d)). 17
(6) P
ERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in-18
dividual or entity. 19
(7) U
NITED STATES PERSON .—The term 20
‘‘United States person’’ means— 21
(A) a United States citizen or an alien law-22
fully admitted for permanent residence to the 23
United States; or 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 15
•HR 1486 IH
(B) an entity organized under the laws of 1
the United States or any jurisdiction within the 2
United States, including a foreign branch of 3
such an entity. 4
(8) F
OREIGN ADVERSARY .—The term ‘‘foreign 5
adversary’’ means the countries listed in section 7.4 6
of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations. 7
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Mar 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1486.IH H1486
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS