II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5239 

To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommunications companies 

engaged in economic or industrial espionage against United States persons, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12, 2022 

Mr. COTTON (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommunications companies engaged in economic or industrial espionage against United States persons, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Neutralizing Emerging 

5 Threats from Wireless OEMs Receiving direction from 

6 Kleptocracies and Surveillance states Act’’ or the ‘‘NET7 WORKS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO ECO2 NOMIC OR INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE BY FOR3 EIGN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—On and after the date that is 30 

5 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi6 dent shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi7 dent under the International Emergency Economic Powers 

8 Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to 

9 block and prohibit all significant transactions in property 

10 and interests in property of a foreign person described in 

11 subsection (b) if such property and interests in property 

12 are in the United States, come within the United States, 

13 or are or come within the possession or control of a United 

14 States person. 

15 (b) FOREIGN PERSONS DESCRIBED.—A foreign per16 son is described in this subsection if the President deter17 mines that the person, on or after the date of the enact18 ment of this Act— 

19 (1) produces fifth or future generation tele20 communications technology; and 

21 (2) engages in— 

22 (A) economic or industrial espionage with 

23 respect to trade secrets or proprietary informa24 tion owned by United States persons; or 


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1 (B) other related illicit activities, including 

2 violations of sanctions imposed by the United 

3 States. 

4 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 

5 (1) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE ACTIVI6 TIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply 

7 to any activity subject to the reporting requirements 

8 under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 

9 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intel10 ligence activities of the United States. 

11 (2) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

12 GOODS.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authorities and re14 quirements to impose sanctions authorized 

15 under this section shall not include the author16 ity or requirement to impose sanctions on the 

17 importation of goods. 

18 (B) GOOD DEFINED.—In this paragraph, 

19 the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or 

20 manmade substance, material, supply or manu21 factured product, including inspection and test 

22 equipment, and excluding technical data. 

23 (d) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica24 tion of sanctions under this section with respect to a for25 eign person for renewable periods of not more than 90 


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1 days each if the President determines and reports to Con2 gress that such a waiver is vital to the national security 

3 interests of the United States. 

4 (e) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

5 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex6 ercise the authorities provided to the President 

7 under sections 203 and 205 of the International 

8 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 

9 and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this 

10 section. 

11 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at12 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

13 violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 

14 or order issued to carry out that subsection shall be 

15 subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) 

16 and (c) of section 206 of the International Emer17 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 

18 same extent as a person that commits an unlawful 

19 act described in subsection (a) of that section. 

20 (f) DEFINITIONS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In this section: 

22 (A) ECONOMIC OR INDUSTRIAL ESPIO23 NAGE.—The term ‘‘economic or industrial espi24 onage’’ means— 


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1 (i) stealing a trade secret or propri2 etary information or appropriating, taking, 

3 carrying away, or concealing, or by fraud, 

4 artifice, or deception obtaining, a trade se5 cret or proprietary information without the 

6 authorization of the owner of the trade se7 cret or proprietary information; 

8 (ii) copying, duplicating, downloading, 

9 uploading, destroying, transmitting, deliv10 ering, sending, communicating, or con11 veying a trade secret or proprietary infor12 mation without the authorization of the 

13 owner of the trade secret or proprietary in14 formation; or 

15 (iii) knowingly receiving, buying, or 

16 possessing a trade secret or proprietary in17 formation that has been stolen or appro18 priated, obtained, or converted without the 

19 authorization of the owner of the trade se20 cret or proprietary information. 

21 (B) FIFTH OR FUTURE GENERATION

22 TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY.—The 

23 term ‘‘fifth or future generation telecommuni24 cations technology’’ means telecommunications 

25 technology that conforms to the technical standVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Dec 14, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5239.IS S5239

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1 ards followed by the telecommunications indus2 try for telecommunications technology that is 

3 commonly known in the industry as fifth gen4 eration or future generation technology. 

5 (C) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign 

6 person’’ means any person that is not a United 

7 States person. 

8 (D) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, 

9 with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a 

10 result, means that a person has actual knowl11 edge, or should have known, of the conduct, the 

12 circumstance, or the result. 

13 (E) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means 

14 an individual or entity. 

15 (F) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—The 

16 term ‘‘proprietary information’’ has the mean17 ing given that term in section 1637(d) of the 

18 Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon 

19 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

20 Year 2015 (50 U.S.C. 1708(d)). 

21 (G) THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION

22 TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS.—The term 

23 ‘‘third and fourth generation telecommuni24 cations networks’’ means telecommunications 

25 networks that conform to the technical standVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Dec 14, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5239.IS S5239

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1 ards followed by the telecommunications indus2 try for telecommunications networks that are 

3 commonly known in the industry as third or 

4 fourth generation networks. 

5 (H) TRADE SECRET.—The term ‘‘trade se6 cret’’ has the meaning given that term in sec7 tion 1839 of title 18, United States Code. 

8 (I) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

9 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

10 (i) a United States citizen or an alien 

11 lawfully admitted for permanent residence 

12 to the United States; or 

13 (ii) an entity organized under the laws 

14 of the United States or any jurisdiction 

15 within the United States, including a for16 eign branch of such an entity. 

17 (2) DETERMINATION OF SIGNIFICANCE.—For 

18 the purposes of this section, in determining if trans19 actions are significant, the President may consider 

20 the totality of the facts and circumstances, including 

21 factors similar to the factors set forth in section 

22 561.404 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (or 

23 any corresponding similar regulation or ruling). 


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1 (3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of 

2 this section, a transaction shall not be construed to 

3 include— 

4 (A) participation in an international stand5 ards-setting body or the activities of such a 

6 body; or 

7 (B) a transaction involving existing third 

8 or fourth generation telecommunications net9 works. 

Æ 


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