§1708 — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

Requires the President to send a report to Congress about foreign spying on U.S. business secrets carried out through computer networks. The first report was due within 180 days after December 19, 2014, and then one report each year through 2020. Each report covers the prior 12 months. The report must name countries that steal U.S. trade secrets, call out the worst offenders, list types of U.S. technologies and business information targeted or taken, describe products or services made with the stolen information, explain what the named countries did, and say what the President has done and how much progress was made. The report should be unclassified but can include a classified attachment. The President can also use emergency economic powers to block property and transactions in the U.S., or in property controlled by U.S. persons, of foreign people who knowingly steal, help steal, or benefit from significant theft of U.S. technology or proprietary information. Those sanctions cannot be used to stop imports of goods, and civil and criminal penalties from the emergency law apply to violators. Nothing here stops other laws from also applying. Definitions (short): "Appropriate congressional committees" means the specific House and Senate committees named in the law. "Cyberspace" means the Internet and related computer and telecom networks. "Economic or industrial espionage" means taking, copying, transmitting, or knowingly getting stolen trade secrets or proprietary business information. "Knowingly" means actually knowing or should have known. "Person" means an individual or organization. "Proprietary information" means confidential business or technical secrets like plans, designs, source code, financial data, and strategy. "United States person" means a U.S. citizen or resident, a U.S.-organized company, or someone in the U.S.

Title 50, §1708

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(a)(1)Not later than 180 days after December 19, 2014, and annually thereafter through 2020, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on foreign economic and industrial espionage in cyberspace during the 12-month period preceding the submission of the report that—

(A)identifies—

(i)foreign countries that engage in economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace with respect to trade secrets or proprietary information owned by United States persons;

(ii)foreign countries identified under clause (i) that the President determines engage in the most egregious economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace with respect to such trade secrets or proprietary information (to be known as “priority foreign countries”);

(iii)categories of technologies or proprietary information developed by United States persons that—

(I)are targeted for economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace; and

(II)to the extent practicable, have been appropriated through such espionage;

(iv)articles manufactured or otherwise produced using technologies or proprietary information described in clause (iii)(II); and

(v)to the extent practicable, services provided using such technologies or proprietary information;

(B)describes the economic or industrial espionage engaged in by the foreign countries identified under clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A); and

(C)describes—

(i)actions taken by the President to decrease the prevalence of economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace; and

(ii)the progress made in decreasing the prevalence of such espionage.

(2)For purposes of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (1)(A), the President shall identify a foreign country as a foreign country that engages in economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace with respect to trade secrets or proprietary information owned by United States persons if the government of the foreign country—

(A)engages in economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace with respect to trade secrets or proprietary information owned by United States persons; or

(B)facilitates, supports, fails to prosecute, or otherwise permits such espionage by—

(i)individuals who are citizens or residents of the foreign country; or

(ii)entities that are organized under the laws of the foreign country or are otherwise subject to the jurisdiction of the government of the foreign country.

(3)Each report required by paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.

(b)(1)The President may, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in all property and interests in property of each person described in paragraph (2), 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.

(2)A person described in this paragraph is a foreign person the President determines knowingly requests, engages in, supports, facilitates, or benefits from the significant appropriation, through economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace, of technologies or proprietary information developed by United States persons.

(3)The authority to impose sanctions under paragraph (1) shall not include the authority to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.

(4)(A)The President may exercise all authorities provided under section 203 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this subsection.

(B)The penalties provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, or conspires to violate, or causes a violation of, this subsection or a regulation prescribed under this subsection to the same extent that such penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act [50 U.S.C. 1705(a)].

(c)Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the application of any penalty or the exercise of any authority provided for under any other provision of law.

(d)In this section:

(1)The term “appropriate congressional committees” means—

(A)the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and

(B)the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Homeland Security, the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Ways and Means, and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives.

(2)The term “cyberspace”—

(A)means the interdependent network of information technology infrastructures; and

(B)includes the Internet, telecommunications networks, computer systems, and embedded processors and controllers.

(3)The term “economic or industrial espionage” means—

(A)stealing a trade secret or proprietary information or appropriating, taking, carrying away, or concealing, or by fraud, artifice, or deception obtaining, a trade secret or proprietary information without the authorization of the owner of the trade secret or proprietary information;

(B)copying, duplicating, downloading, uploading, destroying, transmitting, delivering, sending, communicating, or conveying a trade secret or proprietary information without the authorization of the owner of the trade secret or proprietary information; or

(C)knowingly receiving, buying, or possessing a trade secret or proprietary information that has been stolen or appropriated, obtained, or converted without the authorization of the owner of the trade secret or proprietary information.

(4)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.

(5)The term “own”, with respect to a trade secret or proprietary information, means to hold rightful legal or equitable title to, or license in, the trade secret or proprietary information.

(6)The term “person” means an individual or entity.

(7)The term “proprietary information” means competitive bid preparations, negotiating strategies, executive emails, internal financial data, strategic business plans, technical designs, manufacturing processes, source code, data derived from research and development investments, and other commercially valuable information that a person has developed or obtained if—

(A)the person has taken reasonable measures to keep the information confidential; and

(B)the information is not generally known or readily ascertainable through proper means by the public.

(8)The term “technology” has the meaning given that term in section 16 11 See References in Text note below. of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4618) (as in effect pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.)).

(9)The term “trade secret” has the meaning given that term in section 1839 of title 18.

(10)The term “United States person” means—

(A)an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States;

(B)an entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States; or

(C)a person located in the United States.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, referred to in subsecs. (b)(1) and (d)(8), is title II of Pub. L. 95–223, Dec. 28, 1977, 91 Stat. 1626, which is classified generally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1701 of this title and Tables. section 16 of the Export Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. 4618), referred to subsec. (d)(8), was repealed by Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVII, § 1766(a), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 2232. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, and not as part of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act which comprises this chapter.

§1708 Actions to address economic or industrial espionage in cyberspace