§1709 — Title 50 War and National Defense | U.S. Code

Summary

The President must report to certain congressional committees within 180 days after January 5, 2023, and at least once a year after that, about foreign people or groups who knowingly stole or benefited from major thefts of U.S. trade secrets that happened on or after January 5, 2023 and that are likely to cause a serious threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, the economy, or financial stability. The report must name foreign people who did the stealing, those who helped or profited from it, entities they own or control, and their CEOs or board members. It must explain what was stolen, why, and what happened as a result, and say whether listed executives were involved. The report should be unclassified but can have a classified annex. The first report covers January 5, 2023 through the report date; later reports cover the prior year. If the President lists a foreign entity, he must use at least five kinds of penalties from a list that includes blocking property under U.S. emergency powers; placing the entity on export-control lists; stopping export credit or bank loans (no more than $10,000,000 in any 12-month period unless for humanitarian relief); pushing U.S. officials at international banks to oppose loans; banning U.S. government contracts; restricting foreign-exchange and payment transfers; stopping U.S. persons from buying large amounts of its stock or debt; denying visas and excluding corporate leaders; and applying similar measures to company officers. For listed individuals the President must block their property and bar them from visas and admission, and revoke existing visas. The President can waive sanctions for U.S. national interests but must notify Congress within 15 days. Sanctions do not apply to authorized U.S. intelligence or law enforcement activities, certain diplomatic admissions, or to imports. The authority ends 7 years after January 5, 2023. Key terms in the law include trade secret (as defined elsewhere), foreign person/entity (not a U.S. person), United States person (U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, U.S. entities, or anyone in the U.S.), and "knowingly" (actual knowledge or should have known).

Title 50, §1709

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(a)(1)Not later than 180 days after January 5, 2023, and not less frequently than annually thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report—

(A)identifying any foreign person the President determines, during the period specified in paragraph (2)—

(i)has knowingly engaged in, or benefitted from, significant theft of trade secrets of United States persons, if the theft of such trade secrets occurred on or after January 5, 2023, and is reasonably likely to result in, or has materially contributed to, a significant threat to the national security, foreign policy, or economic health or financial stability of the United States;

(ii)has provided significant financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of or to benefit significantly from, such theft;

(iii)is an entity that is owned or controlled by, or that has acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any foreign person identified under clause (i) or (ii); or

(iv)is a chief executive officer or member of the board of directors of any foreign entity identified under clause (i) or (ii);

(B)describing the nature, objective, and outcome of the theft of trade secrets each foreign person described in subparagraph (A)(i) engaged in or benefitted from; and

(C)assessing whether any chief executive officer or member of the board of directors described in clause (iv) of subparagraph (A) engaged in, or benefitted from, activity described in clause (i) or (ii) of that subparagraph.

(2)The period specified in this paragraph is—

(A)in the case of the first report required by paragraph (1), the period beginning on Janaury 5, 2023, and ending on the date on which the report is required to be submitted; and

(B)in the case of each subsequent report required by paragraph (1), the one-year period preceding the date on which the report is required to be submitted.

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

(b)(1)In the case of a foreign entity identified under subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in the most recent report submitted under that subsection, the President shall impose 5 or more of the following:

(A)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 the entity 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)The President may include the entity on the entity list maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce and set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of the Export Administration Regulations, for activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.

(C)The President may direct the Export-Import Bank of the United States not to give approval to the issuance of any guarantee, insurance, extension of credit, or participation in the extension of credit in connection with the export of any goods or services to the entity.

(D)The President may prohibit any United States financial institution from making loans or providing credits to the entity totaling more than $10,000,000 in any 12-month period unless the person is engaged in activities to relieve human suffering and the loans or credits are provided for such activities.

(E)The President may direct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to use the voice and vote of the United States to oppose any loan from the international financial institution that would benefit the entity.

(F)The following prohibitions may be imposed against the entity if the entity is a financial institution:

(i)Neither the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System nor the Federal Reserve Bank of New York may designate, or permit the continuation of any prior designation of, the financial institution as a primary dealer in United States Government debt instruments.

(ii)The financial institution may not serve as agent of the United States Government or serve as repository for United States Government funds.

(G)The United States Government may not procure, or enter into any contract for the procurement of, any goods or services from the entity.

(H)The President may, pursuant to such regulations as the President may prescribe, prohibit any transactions in foreign exchange that are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and in which the entity has any interest.

(I)The President may, pursuant to such regulations as the President may prescribe, prohibit any transfers of credit or payments between financial institutions or by, through, or to any financial institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and involve any interest of the entity.

(J)The President may, pursuant to such regulations or guidelines as the President may prescribe, prohibit any United States person from investing in or purchasing significant amounts of equity or debt instruments of the entity.

(K)The President may direct the Secretary of State to deny a visa to, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to exclude from the United States, any alien that the President determines is a corporate officer or principal of, or a shareholder with a controlling interest in, the entity.

(L)The President may impose on the principal executive officer or officers of the entity, or on individuals performing similar functions and with similar authorities as such officer or officers, any of the sanctions under this paragraph.

(2)In the case of an alien identified under subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in the most recent report submitted under that subsection, the following shall apply:

(A)The President shall, 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 the alien 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)(i)An alien described in subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) is—

(I)inadmissible to the United States;

(II)ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States; and

(III)otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.).

(ii)(I)An alien described in subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) is subject to revocation of any visa or other entry documentation regardless of when the visa or other entry documentation is or was issued.

(II)A revocation under subclause (I) shall—

(aa)take effect pursuant to section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)); and

(bb)cancel any other valid visa or entry documentation that is in the alien’s possession.

(c)The President may waive the imposition of sanctions under subsection (b) with respect to a person if the President—

(1)determines that such a waiver is in the national interests of the United States; and

(2)not more than 15 days after issuing the waiver, submits to the appropriate congressional committees a notification of the waiver and the reasons for the waiver.

(d)(1)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 section.

(2)A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation of this section or any regulation, license, or order issued to carry out this section 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.

(e)(1)This section shall not apply with respect to activities 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)Sanctions under this section shall not apply with respect to any authorized law enforcement activities of the United States.

(3)Sanctions under this section shall not apply with respect to the admission of an alien to the United States if such admission is necessary to comply with the obligations of the United States under the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the United States, or the Convention on Consular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and entered into force March 19, 1967, or other international obligations.

(4)(A)The authority or a requirement to impose sanctions under this section shall not include the authority or a requirement to impose sanctions on the importation of goods.

(B)In this paragraph, the term “good” means any article, natural or manmade substance, material, supply, or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, and excluding technical data.

(f)This section shall terminate on the date that is 7 years after January 5, 2023.

(g)In this section:

(1)The terms “admission”, “admitted”, “alien”, and “lawfully admitted for permanent residence” have the meanings given those terms in section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).

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

(A)the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and

(B)the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.

(3)The term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization.

(4)The term “Export Administration Regulations” has the meaning given that term in section 4801 of this title.

(5)The term “foreign entity” means an entity that is not a United States person.

(6)The term “foreign person” means any person that is not a United States person.

(7)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.

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

(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)a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence to the United States;

(B)an entity organized under the laws of the United States or of any jurisdiction within the United States, including a foreign branch of such an entity; or

(C)any person in the United States.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(A), (2)(A), 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. The Immigration and Nationality Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(B)(i)(III), is act June 27, 1952, ch. 477, 66 Stat. 163, which is classified principally to chapter 12 (§ 1101 et seq.) of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

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note set out under section 1101 of Title 8 and Tables. The National Security Act of 1947, referred to in subsec. (e)(1), is act July 26, 1947, ch. 343, 61 Stat. 495. Title V of the Act is classified generally to subchapter III (§ 3091 et seq.) of chapter 44 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. Codification Section was enacted as part of the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022, and not as part of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act which comprises this chapter.

Executive Documents

Delegation of Functions and Authorities Under the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 Memorandum of President of the United States, July 19, 2024, 89 F.R. 64345, provided: Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby order as follows: section 1. (a) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State, with input from the Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies), as appropriate, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 2(a) of the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act of 2022 (Public Law 117–336; 50 U.S.C. 1709) (the “Act”). To support the Secretary of State’s preparation of the report required under section 2(a) of the Act, the Director of National Intelligence, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, and, as appropriate, the heads of other relevant agencies, shall provide pertinent information to the Secretary of State at least 90 days before the deadline for submission of the annual report to the appropriate congressional committees. (b) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of other relevant agencies, as appropriate, the authority to select the types of sanctions to be imposed under section 2(b)(1) of the Act. Once applicable sanctions are selected pursuant to section 2(b)(1) of the Act, I hereby delegate to the heads of other relevant agencies the authority to implement such sanctions, commensurate with their respective areas of responsibility. (c) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of the Treasury the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 2(b)(2)(A) and section 2(d) of the Act. (d) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 2(c) of the Act. Sec. 2. The delegations in this memorandum shall apply to any provisions of any future public laws that are the same or substantially the same as the provisions referenced in this memorandum. Any reference in this memorandum to the Act shall be deemed to be a reference to such Act as amended from time to time. Sec. 3. The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register. J.R. Biden, Jr.

§1709 Imposition of sanctions with respect to theft of trade secrets of United States persons

Summary

Title 50, §1709

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Short Title

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Executive Documents

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