II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 63
To amend the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimi-
nation Act of 1991 to impose sanctions on foreign countries in response
to acts concerning chemical or biological programs that cause injury
to other foreign countries, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. B
ANKS(for himself, Mr. COTTON, and Mr. MORENO) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on For-
eign Relations
A BILL
To amend the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control
and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 to impose sanc-
tions on foreign countries in response to acts concerning
chemical or biological programs that cause injury to
other foreign countries, 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 ‘‘Countering Beijing’s 4
Weaponization of Fentanyl Act’’ or the ‘‘CBW Fentanyl 5
Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 1
Section 302 of the Chemical and Biological Weapons 2
Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (22 U.S.C. 3
5601) is amended— 4
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and 5
(4) as paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), respectively; 6
(2) by striking ‘‘that use chemical’’ and insert-7
ing the following: ‘‘that— 8
‘‘(A) use chemical’’; 9
(3) by striking ‘‘law or use’’ and inserting the 10
following: ‘‘law; 11
‘‘(B) use’’; and 12
(4) by striking ‘‘nationals, and to impose’’ and 13
inserting the following: ‘‘nationals; or 14
‘‘(C) commit an act concerning a chemical 15
or biological program that results in injury or 16
damages to another country; and 17
‘‘(2) to impose’’. 18
SEC. 3. PRESIDENTIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 19
Section 306 of the Chemical and Biological Weapons 20
Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (22 U.S.C. 21
5604) is amended— 22
(1) in the section heading, by inserting before 23
the period the following: ‘‘
OR ACTS CONCERNING 24
A CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM ’’; 25
(2) in subsection (a)— 26
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(A) in paragraph (1)— 1
(i) by striking ‘‘Whenever’’ and insert-2
ing the following: 3
‘‘(A) D
ETERMINATION REGARDING CHEM -4
ICAL OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS .—Whenever’’; 5
and 6
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(B) D
ETERMINATION REGARDING CHEM -9
ICAL OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM .—Whenever 10
credible information becomes available to the 11
President indicating a substantial possibility 12
that, on or after the date of the enactment of 13
the Countering Beijing’s Weaponization of 14
Fentanyl Act, an individual who is an official, 15
employee, or agent of a foreign governmental 16
entity has committed a covered act, the Presi-17
dent shall, not later than 60 days after the re-18
ceipt of that information by the President, de-19
termine whether the individual committed a 20
covered act. The President shall impose the 21
sanctions described in section 310 with respect 22
to the individual if the President determines 23
that the individual has committed a covered 24
act.’’; 25
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(B) in paragraph (2)— 1
(i) by redesignating subparagraphs 2
(A) through (E) as clauses (i) through (v), 3
respectively, and by moving such clauses, 4
as so redesignated, 2 ems to the right; and 5
(ii) by striking ‘‘In making the deter-6
mination under paragraph (1)’’ and insert-7
ing the following: 8
‘‘(A) C
ONSIDERATIONS REGARDING CHEM -9
ICAL OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS .—In making the 10
determination under paragraph (1)(A)’’; and 11
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-12
lowing: 13
‘‘(B) C
ONSIDERATIONS REGARDING CHEM -14
ICAL OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM .—In making a 15
determination under paragraph (1)(B) with re-16
spect to whether an individual who is an offi-17
cial, employee, or agent of a foreign govern-18
mental entity has committed a covered act, the 19
President shall consider the following: 20
‘‘(i) Physical and circumstantial evi-21
dence available relevant to the possibility 22
that the individual committed a covered 23
act. 24
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‘‘(ii) Whether evidence exists that the 1
chemical or biological program associated 2
with the covered act has a civilian or mili-3
tary purpose or application. 4
‘‘(iii) Whether the foreign govern-5
mental entity attempted to conceal or with-6
hold information regarding the covered act 7
from a relevant international organization 8
or the government of a foreign country 9
other than the foreign country most closely 10
associated with the entity. 11
‘‘(iv) Whether, and to what extent, 12
the foreign governmental entity and the 13
government of the foreign country most 14
closely associated with the foreign govern-15
mental entity have voluntarily disclosed 16
substantive information regarding the cov-17
ered act to relevant international organiza-18
tions. 19
‘‘(v) Whether, and to what extent, the 20
government of that country is compliant 21
with the obligations of the country under 22
each covered treaty.’’; and 23
(C) in paragraph (3)— 24
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(i) by striking ‘‘Upon’’ and inserting 1
the following: 2
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Upon’’; 3
(ii) by striking ‘‘If the determination 4
is’’ and inserting the following: 5
‘‘(B) R
EPORT REQUIREMENTS .— 6
‘‘(i) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR CHEMICAL 7
OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS DETERMINA -8
TION.—If the determination is a deter-9
mination under paragraph (1)(A)’’; and 10
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-11
lowing: 12
‘‘(ii) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR CHEMICAL 13
OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM DETERMINA -14
TION.—If the determination is a deter-15
mination under paragraph (1)(B) that an 16
individual has committed a covered act, the 17
report shall specify the sanctions to be im-18
posed pursuant to section 310.’’; and 19
(3) in subsection (b)— 20
(A) in paragraph (1)— 21
(i) by striking ‘‘whether a particular’’ 22
and inserting the following: ‘‘whether— 23
‘‘(A) a particular’’; and 24
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(ii) by striking the period and insert-1
ing the following: ‘‘; or 2
‘‘(B) a particular individual, on or after 3
the date of the enactment of the Countering 4
Beijing’s Weaponization of Fentanyl Act, has 5
committed a covered act.’’; and 6
(B) in paragraph (2)— 7
(i) by striking ‘‘Not later’’ and insert-8
ing the following: 9
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later’’; 10
(ii) by striking ‘‘whether the speci-11
fied’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘wheth-12
er— 13
‘‘(i) the specified’’; 14
(iii) by striking ‘‘nationals. This re-15
port’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘nation-16
als; or 17
‘‘(ii) the specified individual, on or 18
after the date of the enactment of the 19
Countering Beijing’s Weaponization of 20
Fentanyl Act, has committed a covered 21
act. 22
‘‘(B) R
EPORT CONTENTS .—Each report 23
provided under this paragraph’’; and 24
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(iv) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(2)’’ 1
and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (A) or (B) of 2
subsection (a)(2), as applicable’’. 3
SEC. 4. REQUIRED SANCTIONS ON FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN 4
RESPONSE TO CERTAIN ACTS CONCERNING 5
CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM. 6
The Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and 7
Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (22 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.) 8
is amended by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘SEC. 310. SANCTIONS ON FOREIGN COUNTRIES IN RE-10
SPONSE TO ACTS CONCERNING CHEMICAL 11
OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAMS. 12
‘‘(a) I
NITIALSANCTIONS.—If the President makes a 13
determination pursuant to section 306(a)(1)(B) with re-14
spect to an individual who is an official, employee, or 15
agent of a foreign governmental entity, the President 16
shall, not later than 30 days of making the determination, 17
impose the following sanctions with respect to the foreign 18
country most closely associated with that entity: 19
‘‘(1) Suspension of all scientific cooperative pro-20
grams and agreements between the United States 21
and that country. 22
‘‘(2) A prohibition on the export, reexport, or 23
in-country transfer of items classified under Cat-24
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egory 1 or Category 2 of the Commerce Control List 1
to or in that country. 2
‘‘(3) A prohibition on the procurement of, or 3
entry into a contract to procure, a good or service 4
from a person operating in the chemical or biological 5
sectors of the economy of that country. 6
‘‘(b) I
NTERMEDIATEAPPLICATION OFSANCTIONS.— 7
‘‘(1) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 8
120 days after making a determination pursuant to 9
section 306(a)(1)(B) with respect to an individual 10
who is an official, employee, or agent of a foreign 11
governmental entity, the President shall submit to 12
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 13
Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Re-14
lations of the Senate a report that states whether— 15
‘‘(A) the foreign governmental entity or 16
the government of the foreign country most 17
closely associated with that entity— 18
‘‘(i) has adequately addressed the cov-19
ered act that was the basis for the deter-20
mination; 21
‘‘(ii) has voluntarily provided sub-22
stantive information regarding the covered 23
act to the United States Government and 24
relevant international organizations; and 25
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‘‘(iii) has developed or is developing 1
measures to prevent the commission of 2
covered acts in the future; and 3
‘‘(B) the government of that country is 4
compliant with the obligations of the country 5
under each covered treaty. 6
‘‘(2) S
ANCTIONS REQUIRED .—If the report re-7
quired by paragraph (1) states that any action de-8
scribed in paragraph (1) has not been taken by the 9
foreign governmental entity or the government of 10
the foreign country, as applicable, the President 11
shall impose not fewer than 2 of the following sanc-12
tions with respect to the foreign country: 13
‘‘(A) Termination of assistance provided to 14
the country pursuant to the Foreign Assistance 15
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.), except 16
for urgent humanitarian assistance, food, or 17
other agricultural commodities or products. 18
‘‘(B) A prohibition on the export, reexport, 19
or in-country transfer of items controlled under 20
the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 21
U.S.C. 4801 et seq.) to or in the country, in-22
cluding items controlled for reasons related to 23
the national security interests of the United 24
States under the Export Administration Regu-25
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lations, except that such prohibition shall not 1
apply to a transaction subject to the reporting 2
requirements of title V of the National Security 3
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 413 et seq.). 4
‘‘(C) A prohibition on the issuance of a li-5
cense for the export, reexport, or retransfer of 6
an item on the United States Munitions List 7
(established pursuant to section 38 of the Arms 8
Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2778)) if the li-9
cense includes the country as a party. 10
‘‘(3) A
DDITIONAL SANCTIONS AUTHORIZED .— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The President may 12
order the United States Government not to 13
issue a license or grant a specific permission or 14
authority under a provision of law described in 15
subparagraph (B) to export a good or service to 16
a foreign country subject to sanctions imposed 17
under paragraph (2). 18
‘‘(B) P
ROVISIONS OF LAW DESCRIBED .— 19
The provisions of law described in this subpara-20
graph are the following: 21
‘‘(i) The Export Control Reform Act 22
of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.). 23
‘‘(ii) The Arms Export Control Act 24
(22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.). 25
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‘‘(iii) The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 1
(42 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.). 2
‘‘(iv) Any other statute that requires 3
the prior review and approval of the 4
United States Government as a condition 5
for the export of goods or services. 6
‘‘(c) F
INALAPPLICATION OFSANCTIONS.— 7
‘‘(1) P
RESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION .—Not 8
later than 210 days after making a determination 9
pursuant to section 306(a)(1)(B) with respect to an 10
individual who is an official, employee, or agent of 11
a foreign governmental entity, the President shall 12
submit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 13
House of Representatives and the Committee on 14
Foreign Relations of the Senate a report that states 15
whether— 16
‘‘(A) the foreign governmental entity or 17
the government of the foreign country most 18
closely associated with that entity— 19
‘‘(i) has adequately addressed the cov-20
ered act that was the basis for the deter-21
mination; 22
‘‘(ii) has voluntarily provided sub-23
stantive information regarding the covered 24
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act to the United States Government and 1
relevant international organizations; and 2
‘‘(iii) has developed or is developing 3
measures to prevent the commission of 4
covered acts in the future; and 5
‘‘(B) the government of the country is 6
compliant with the obligations of the country 7
under each covered treaty. 8
‘‘(2) E
FFECT OF DETERMINATION .—If the re-9
port required by paragraph (1) states that any ac-10
tion described in paragraph (1) has not been taken 11
by the foreign governmental entity or the govern-12
ment of the foreign country, as applicable, the Presi-13
dent shall prohibit any transaction that— 14
‘‘(A) is— 15
‘‘(i) in foreign commerce; or 16
‘‘(ii) a transfer of credit or payment 17
by, through, or to a financial institution; 18
‘‘(B) is subject to the jurisdiction of the 19
United States; and 20
‘‘(C) involves a financial interest of the 21
country. 22
‘‘(d) T
ERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The President 23
shall terminate each sanction imposed with respect to a 24
foreign country pursuant to this section if, on or after the 25
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date that is 1 year after the first date on which the sanc-1
tion was imposed, the President certifies to Congress 2
that— 3
‘‘(1) the government of the country, or the for-4
eign governmental entity of which the individual who 5
committed the covered act that was the basis for the 6
imposition of such sanctions was an official, em-7
ployee, or agent— 8
‘‘(A) has adequately addressed the act; 9
‘‘(B) has made or is making restitution to 10
persons harmed by the covered act, including 11
United States nationals; 12
‘‘(C) has voluntarily provided substantive 13
information regarding the covered act to the 14
United States Government and relevant inter-15
national organizations; and 16
‘‘(D) has developed or is developing meas-17
ures to prevent the commission of covered acts 18
in the future; and 19
‘‘(2) the government of the country is compliant 20
with the obligations of the country under each cov-21
ered treaty. 22
‘‘(e) W
AIVER.— 23
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The President may, for pe-24
riods of not more than 180 days, waive the imposi-25
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tion of sanctions required under this section if the 1
President certifies to the Committee on Foreign Af-2
fairs of the House of Representatives and the Com-3
mittee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that the 4
waiver is vital to the national security interests of 5
the United States. 6
‘‘(2) S
UNSET.—The President may not exercise 7
the authority described in paragraph (1) on or after 8
the date that is 5 years after the date of the enact-9
ment of the Countering Beijing’s Weaponization of 10
Fentanyl Act. 11
‘‘SEC. 311. DEFINITIONS. 12
‘‘In this title: 13
‘‘(1) C
HEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM .— 14
The term ‘chemical or biological program’ means a 15
program to produce, develop, or distribute— 16
‘‘(A) a chemical or biological weapon; 17
‘‘(B) benzylfentanyl; 18
‘‘(C) 4-anilinopiperidine; or 19
‘‘(D) norfentanyl precursors. 20
‘‘(2) C
OMMERCE CONTROL LIST .—The term 21
‘Commerce Control List’ means the list maintained 22
by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the De-23
partment of Commerce and set forth in Supplement 24
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No. 1 to part 774 of the Export Administration 1
Regulations. 2
‘‘(3) C
OVERED ACT.—The term ‘covered act’ 3
means an act by an individual who is an official, em-4
ployee, or agent of a foreign governmental entity, 5
if— 6
‘‘(A) the individual knew or should have 7
known that the act would result in injury or 8
damages to a foreign country other than the 9
foreign country most closely associated with 10
that entity; and 11
‘‘(B) the act concerns a chemical or bio-12
logical program that is owned, controlled, or di-13
rected by, or subject to the jurisdiction of, that 14
entity. 15
‘‘(4) C
OVERED TREATY .—The term ‘covered 16
treaty’ means— 17
‘‘(A) the Convention on the Prohibition of 18
the Development, Production and Stockpiling of 19
Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on 20
their Destruction, done at Washington, London, 21
and Moscow, April 10, 1972 (commonly re-22
ferred to as the ‘Biological Weapons Conven-23
tion’); and 24
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‘‘(B) the Convention on the Prohibition of 1
the Development, Production, Stockpiling and 2
Use of Chemical Weapons and on their De-3
struction, done at Geneva September 3, 1992, 4
and entered into force April 29, 1997 (com-5
monly referred to as the ‘Chemical Weapons 6
Convention’). 7
‘‘(5) E
XPORT ADMINISTRATION REGULA -8
TIONS.—The term ‘Export Administration Regula-9
tions’ means the regulations set forth in subchapter 10
C of chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal Regu-11
lations (or successor regulations). 12
‘‘(6) F
OREIGN GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY .—The 13
term ‘foreign governmental entity’ means— 14
‘‘(A) the government of a foreign country; 15
‘‘(B) the government of a political subdivi-16
sion of a foreign country; 17
‘‘(C) an agency or instrumentality of a for-18
eign state, as such term is defined in section 19
1603(b) of title 28, United States Code; 20
‘‘(D) an entity that is directly or indirectly 21
controlled or beneficially owned by a govern-22
ment described in subparagraph (A) or (B); 23
‘‘(E) an entity that acts on behalf of or as 24
an agent of such a government; or 25
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‘‘(F) an entity that— 1
‘‘(i) receives significant material sup-2
port from a such a government; and 3
‘‘(ii) is engaged in— 4
‘‘(I) the provision of commercial 5
services; 6
‘‘(II) shipping; 7
‘‘(III) manufacturing; 8
‘‘(IV) producing; or 9
‘‘(V) exporting.’’. 10
SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 11
Section 307(a) of the Chemical and Biological Weap-12
ons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (22 13
U.S.C. 5605(a)) is amended, in the matter preceding 14
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 306(a)(1)’’ and insert-15
ing ‘‘section 306(a)(1)(A)’’. 16
Æ
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