I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2661
To require the President to remove the extension of certain privileges, exemp-
tions, and immunities to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices
if Hong Kong no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy from the
People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL7, 2025
Mr. S
MITHof New Jersey (for himself and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To require the President to remove the extension of certain
privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the Hong Kong
Economic and Trade Offices if Hong Kong no longer
enjoys a high degree of autonomy from the People’s
Republic of China, 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 ‘‘Hong Kong Economic 4
and Trade Office (HKETO) Certification Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DETERMINATION ON WHETHER TO EXTEND CER-1
TAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMU-2
NITIES TO THE HONG KONG ECONOMIC AND 3
TRADE OFFICES IN THE UNITED STATES. 4
(a) D
ETERMINATIONREQUIRED.—Not later than 30 5
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 6
thereafter as part of each certification required by the Sec-7
retary of State under section 205(a)(1)(A) of the United 8
States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 9
5725(a)(1)(A)), the Secretary of State shall, as part of 10
such certification, include a separate determination that— 11
(1) the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Of-12
fices— 13
(A) merit extension and application of the 14
privileges, exemptions, and immunities specified 15
in subsection (b); or 16
(B) no longer merit extension and applica-17
tion of the privileges, exemptions, and immuni-18
ties specified in subsection (b); and 19
(2) a detailed report justifying that determina-20
tion, which may include considerations related to 21
United States national security interests. 22
(b) P
RIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, ANDIMMUNITIES 23
S
PECIFIED.—The privileges, exemptions, and immunities 24
specified in this subsection are the privileges, exemptions, 25
and immunities extended and applied to the Hong Kong 26
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Economic and Trade Offices under section 1 of the Act 1
entitled ‘‘An Act to extend certain privileges, exemptions, 2
and immunities to Hong Kong Economic and Trade Of-3
fices’’, approved June 27, 1997 (22 U.S.C. 288k). 4
(c) E
FFECT OFDETERMINATION.— 5
(1) T
ERMINATION.—If the Secretary of State 6
determines under subsection (a)(1)(B) that the 7
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices no longer 8
merit extension and application of the privileges, ex-9
emptions, and immunities specified in subsection (b), 10
the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices shall 11
terminate operations not later than 180 days after 12
the date on which that determination is delivered to 13
the appropriate congressional committees, as part of 14
the certification required under section 205(a)(1)(A) 15
of the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 16
(22 U.S.C. 5725(a)(1)(A)). 17
(2) C
ONTINUED OPERATIONS .—If the Secretary 18
of State determines under subsection (a)(1)(A) that 19
the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices merit 20
extension and application of the privileges, exemp-21
tions, and immunities specified in subsection (b), the 22
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices may con-23
tinue operations for the one-year period following 24
the date of the certification that includes that deter-25
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mination or until the next certification required 1
under section 205(a)(1)(A) of the United States- 2
Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 3
5725(a)(1)(A)) is submitted, whichever occurs first, 4
unless a disapproval resolution is enacted under sub-5
section (d). 6
(d) C
ONGRESSIONALREVIEW.— 7
(1) D
ISAPPROVAL RESOLUTION .—In this sub-8
section, the term ‘‘disapproval resolution’’ means 9
only a joint resolution of either House of Congress— 10
(A) the title of which is the following: ‘‘A 11
joint resolution disapproving the certification by 12
the President that the Hong Kong Economic 13
and Trade Offices continue to merit extension 14
and application of certain privileges, exemp-15
tions, and immunities.’’; and 16
(B) the sole matter after the resolving 17
clause of which is the following: ‘‘Congress dis-18
approves of the certification by the President 19
under section 2(a)(1)(A) of the Hong Kong 20
Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) Certifi-21
cation Act that the Hong Kong Economic and 22
Trade Offices merit extension and application 23
of certain privileges, exemptions, and immuni-24
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ties, on lll.’’, with the blank space being 1
filled with the appropriate date. 2
(2) I
NTRODUCTION.—A disapproval resolution 3
may be introduced— 4
(A) in the House of Representatives, by 5
the majority leader or the minority leader; and 6
(B) in the Senate, by the majority leader 7
(or the majority leader’s designee) or the mi-8
nority leader (or the minority leader’s des-9
ignee). 10
(3) F
LOOR CONSIDERATION IN HOUSE OF REP -11
RESENTATIVES.—If a committee of the House of 12
Representatives to which a disapproval resolution 13
has been referred has not reported the resolution 14
within 10 legislative days after the date of referral, 15
that committee shall be discharged from further con-16
sideration of the resolution. 17
(4) C
ONSIDERATION IN SENATE .— 18
(A) C
OMMITTEE REFERRAL .—A dis-19
approval resolution introduced in the Senate 20
shall be referred to the Committee on Foreign 21
Relations. 22
(B) R
EPORTING AND DISCHARGE .—If the 23
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 24
has not reported the resolution within 10 legis-25
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lative days after the date of referral of the reso-1
lution, that committee shall be discharged from 2
further consideration of the resolution and the 3
resolution shall be placed on the appropriate 4
calendar. 5
(C) P
ROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION .— 6
Notwithstanding Rule XXII of the Standing 7
Rules of the Senate, it is in order at any time 8
after the Committee on Foreign Relations re-9
ports a disapproval resolution to the Senate or 10
has been discharged from consideration of such 11
a resolution (even though a previous motion to 12
the same effect has been disagreed to) to move 13
to proceed to the consideration of the resolu-14
tion, and all points of order against the resolu-15
tion (and against consideration of the resolu-16
tion) are waived. The motion to proceed is not 17
debatable. The motion is not subject to a mo-18
tion to postpone. A motion to reconsider the 19
vote by which the motion is agreed to or dis-20
agreed to shall not be in order. 21
(D) R
ULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCE -22
DURE.—Appeals from the decisions of the Chair 23
relating to the application of the rules of the 24
Senate, as the case may be, to the procedure re-25
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lating to a disapproval resolution shall be de-1
cided without debate. 2
(E) C
ONSIDERATION OF VETO MES -3
SAGES.—Debate in the Senate of any veto mes-4
sage with respect to a disapproval resolution, 5
including all debatable motions and appeals in 6
connection with the resolution, shall be limited 7
to 10 hours, to be equally divided between, and 8
controlled by, the majority leader and the mi-9
nority leader or their designees. 10
(5) R
ULES RELATING TO SENATE AND HOUSE 11
OF REPRESENTATIVES .— 12
(A) T
REATMENT OF SENATE RESOLUTION 13
IN HOUSE.—In the House of Representatives, 14
the following procedures shall apply to a dis-15
approval resolution received from the Senate 16
(unless the House has already passed a resolu-17
tion relating to the same proposed action): 18
(i) The resolution shall be referred to 19
the appropriate committees. 20
(ii) If a committee to which a resolu-21
tion has been referred has not reported the 22
resolution within 10 legislative days after 23
the date of referral, that committee shall 24
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be discharged from further consideration 1
of the resolution. 2
(iii) Beginning on the third legislative 3
day after each committee to which a reso-4
lution has been referred reports the resolu-5
tion to the House or has been discharged 6
from further consideration thereof, it shall 7
be in order to move to proceed to consider 8
the resolution in the House. All points of 9
order against the motion are waived. Such 10
a motion shall not be in order after the 11
House has disposed of a motion to proceed 12
on the resolution. The previous question 13
shall be considered as ordered on the mo-14
tion to its adoption without intervening 15
motion. The motion shall not be debatable. 16
A motion to reconsider the vote by which 17
the motion is disposed of shall not be in 18
order. 19
(iv) The resolution shall be considered 20
as read. All points of order against the res-21
olution and against its consideration are 22
waived. The previous question shall be con-23
sidered as ordered on the resolution to 24
final passage without intervening motion 25
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except 2 hours of debate equally divided 1
and controlled by the offeror of the motion 2
to proceed (or a designee) and an oppo-3
nent. A motion to reconsider the vote on 4
passage of the resolution shall not be in 5
order. 6
(B) T
REATMENT OF HOUSE RESOLUTION 7
IN SENATE.— 8
(i) R
ECEIVED BEFORE PASSAGE OF 9
SENATE RESOLUTION .—If, before the pas-10
sage by the Senate of a disapproval resolu-11
tion, the Senate receives an identical reso-12
lution from the House of Representatives, 13
the following procedures shall apply: 14
(I) That resolution shall not be 15
referred to a committee. 16
(II) With respect to that resolu-17
tion— 18
(aa) the procedure in the 19
Senate shall be the same as if no 20
resolution had been received from 21
the House of Representatives; 22
but 23
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(bb) the vote on passage 1
shall be on the resolution from 2
the House of Representatives. 3
(ii) R
ECEIVED AFTER PASSAGE OF 4
SENATE RESOLUTION .—If, following pas-5
sage of a disapproval resolution in the Sen-6
ate, the Senate receives an identical resolu-7
tion from the House of Representatives, 8
that resolution shall be placed on the ap-9
propriate Senate calendar. 10
(iii) N
O SENATE COMPANION .—If a 11
disapproval resolution is received from the 12
House of Representatives, and no com-13
panion resolution has been introduced in 14
the Senate, the Senate procedures under 15
this subsection shall apply to the resolution 16
from the House of Representatives. 17
(C) A
PPLICATION TO REVENUE MEAS -18
URES.—The provisions of this subparagraph 19
shall not apply in the House of Representatives 20
to a disapproval resolution that is a revenue 21
measure. 22
(6) R
ULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 23
AND SENATE.—This paragraph is enacted by Con-24
gress— 25
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(A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 1
of the Senate and the House of Representa-2
tives, respectively, and as such is deemed a part 3
of the rules of each House, respectively, and su-4
persedes other rules only to the extent that it 5
is inconsistent with such rules; and 6
(B) with full recognition of the constitu-7
tional right of either House to change the rules 8
(so far as relating to the procedure of that 9
House) at any time, in the same manner, and 10
to the same extent as in the case of any other 11
rule of that House. 12
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
(1) A
PPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT -14
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-15
mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Relations 16
of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 17
of the House of Representatives. 18
(2) H
ONG KONG ECONOMIC AND TRADE OF -19
FICES.—The term ‘‘Hong Kong Economic and 20
Trade Offices’’ has the meaning given that term in 21
section 1(c) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to extend 22
certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities to 23
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices’’, approved 24
June 27, 1997 (22 U.S.C. 288k). 25
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SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON CONTRACTING RELATING TO HONG 1
KONG ECONOMIC AND TRADE OFFICES. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—On and after the date of the en-3
actment of this Act, an entity of the United States Gov-4
ernment may enter into an agreement or partnership with 5
the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices to promote 6
tourism, culture, business, or other matters relating to 7
Hong Kong only if— 8
(1) the Secretary of State has submitted to the 9
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 10
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 11
Representatives a determination under section 12
2(a)(1)(A) that the Hong Kong Economic and 13
Trade Offices merit extension and application of cer-14
tain privileges, exemptions, and immunities; 15
(2) a disapproval resolution under section 2(d) 16
is not enacted during the 90-day period following the 17
submission of that determination; and 18
(3) the agreement or partnership does not pro-19
mote efforts by the Government of the Hong Kong 20
Special Administrative Region and the Government 21
of the People’s Republic of China— 22
(A) to justify the dismantling of the auton-23
omy of Hong Kong and the freedoms and rule 24
of law guaranteed by the Sino-British Joint 25
Declaration of 1984; and 26
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(B) to portray within the United States 1
the Government of the Hong Kong Special Ad-2
ministrative Region or the Government of the 3
People’s Republic of China as protecting the 4
rule of law or the human rights and civil lib-5
erties of the people of Hong Kong. 6
(b) H
ONGKONGECONOMIC AND TRADEOFFICES 7
D
EFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘Hong Kong Eco-8
nomic and Trade Offices’’ has the meaning given that 9
term in section 1(c) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to extend 10
certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities to Hong 11
Kong Economic and Trade Offices’’, approved June 27, 12
1997 (22 U.S.C. 288k). 13
SEC. 4. POLICY OF UNITED STATES ON PROMOTION OF AU-14
TONOMY OF GOVERNMENT OF THE HONG 15
KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION. 16
It is the policy of the United States— 17
(1) to ensure that entities of the United States 18
Government do not knowingly assist in the pro-19
motion of Hong Kong as a free and autonomous city 20
or the Government of the Hong Kong Special Ad-21
ministrative Region as committed to protecting the 22
human rights of the people of Hong Kong or fully 23
maintaining the rule of law required for human 24
rights and economic prosperity as long as the Sec-25
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retary of State continues to determine under section 1
205(a)(1) of the United States-Hong Kong Policy 2
Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 5725(a)(1)) that Hong 3
Kong does not enjoy a high degree of autonomy 4
from the People’s Republic of China and does not 5
warrant treatment under the laws of the United 6
States in the same manner as those laws were ap-7
plied to Hong Kong before July 1, 1997; 8
(2) to recognize that promotion of Hong Kong 9
as described in paragraph (1) should be considered 10
propaganda for the efforts of the People’s Republic 11
of China to dismantle rights and freedom guaran-12
teed to the residents of Hong Kong by the Inter-13
national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and 14
the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984; 15
(3) to ensure that entities of the United States 16
Government do not engage in or assist with propa-17
ganda of the People’s Republic of China regarding 18
Hong Kong; and 19
(4) to engage with the Government of the Hong 20
Kong Special Administrative Region, through all rel-21
evant entities of the United States Government, 22
seeking the release of political prisoners, the end of 23
arbitrary detentions, the resumption of a free press 24
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and fair and free elections open to all candidates, 1
and the restoration of an independent judiciary. 2
Æ
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