I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1189 

To require the development of a strategy to eliminate the availability to 

foreign adversaries of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2023 

Mr. MAST (for himself and Mr. KIM of New Jersey) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the development of a strategy to eliminate the 

availability to foreign adversaries of goods and technologies capable of supporting undersea cables, 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 ‘‘Undersea Cable Con5 trol Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STRATEGY TO ELIMINATE THE AVAILABILITY TO 

2 FOREIGN ADVERSARIES OF GOODS AND 

3 TECHNOLOGIES CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING 

4 UNDERSEA CABLES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President, acting through the 

6 Secretary of State and in consultation with the Secretary 

7 of Commerce, shall develop a strategy to eliminate the 

8 availability to foreign adversaries of goods and tech9 nologies capable of supporting undersea cables consistent 

10 with United States policy described in section 1752 of the 

11 Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4811). 

12 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy re13 quired under subsection (a) shall include the following: 

14 (1) An identification of goods and technologies 

15 capable of supporting the construction, maintenance, 

16 or operation of an undersea cable project. 

17 (2) An identification of United States and mul18 tilateral export controls and licensing policies for 

19 goods and technologies identified pursuant to para20 graph (1) with respect to foreign adversaries. 

21 (3) An identification of United States allies and 

22 partners that have a share of the global market with 

23 respect to the goods and technologies so identified, 

24 including a detailed description of the availability of 

25 such goods and technologies without restriction in 


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1 sufficient quantities and comparable in quality to 

2 those produced in the United States. 

3 (4) A description of ongoing negotiations with 

4 other countries to achieve unified export controls 

5 and licensing policies for goods and technologies so 

6 identified to eliminate availability to foreign adver7 saries. 

8 (5) An identification of all entities under the 

9 control, ownership, or influence of a foreign adver10 sary that support the construction, operation, or 

11 maintenance of undersea cables. 

12 (6) A description of efforts taken to promote 

13 United States leadership at international standards14 setting bodies for equipment, systems, software, and 

15 virtually defined networks relevant to undersea ca16 bles, taking into account the different processes fol17 lowed by such bodies. 

18 (7) A description of the presence and activities 

19 of foreign adversaries at international standards-set20 ting bodies relevant to undersea cables, including in21 formation on the differences in the scope and scale 

22 of the engagement of foreign adversaries at such 

23 bodies compared to engagement at such bodies by 

24 the United States and its allies and partners, and 


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1 the security risks raised by the proposals of foreign 

2 adversaries at such bodies. 

3 (c) REPORT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act and annually 

6 thereafter for 3 years, the President shall submit to 

7 the appropriate congressional committees a report 

8 that contains the strategy required under subsection 

9 (a). 

10 (2) FORM.—Each report required under this 

11 subsection shall— 

12 (A) be submitted in unclassified form, but 

13 may contain a classified annex; and 

14 (B) be made available on a publicly acces15 sible Federal Government website. 

16 (d) AGREEMENT.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 

19 shall seek to— 

20 (A) establish bilateral or plurilateral agree21 ments with allies and partners identified pursu22 ant to subsection (b)(3) to seek to eliminate the 

23 availability to foreign adversaries of goods and 

24 technologies identified pursuant to subsection 

25 (b)(1); and 


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1 (B) include in such agreements penalty 

2 provisions for non-compliance. 

3 (2) BRIEFINGS.—The President shall brief the 

4 congressional committees specified in subsection 

5 (c)(1) on negotiations to establish agreements de6 scribed in paragraph (1) beginning not later than 30 

7 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and 

8 every 180 days thereafter until each such agreement 

9 is established. 

10 (e) ACTIONS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 

12 shall evaluate the export, reexport, and in-country 

13 transfer of the technologies identified pursuant to 

14 subsection (b)(1) for appropriate controls under the 

15 Export Administration Regulations, including by 

16 evaluating, for each technology so identified, whether 

17 to add the technology to the Commerce Control List 

18 maintained under title 15, Code of Federal Regula19 tions. 

20 (2) LEVELS OF CONTROL.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—In determining the 

22 level of control appropriate for technologies 

23 identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1), includ24 ing requirements for a license or other author25 ization for the export, reexport, or in-country 


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1 transfer of any such technology, the Secretary 

2 of Commerce (in coordination with the Sec3 retary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and 

4 the heads of other Federal agencies, as appro5 priate) shall take into account the potential end 

6 uses and end users of the technology. 

7 (B) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—At a min8 imum, it is the policy of the United States to 

9 work with its allies and partners to control the 

10 export, reexport, or in-country transfer of tech11 nologies identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1) 

12 to or in a country subject to an embargo, in13 cluding an arms embargo, imposed by the 

14 United States. 

15 (3) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 1 year 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 

17 thereafter for 3 years, the President, acting through 

18 the Secretary of Commerce, shall submit to the ap19 propriate congressional committees an unclassified 

20 notification describing the results of actions taken 

21 pursuant to this subsection in the preceding period, 

22 including a description of— 

23 (A) the individual items evaluated for con24 trols; 


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1 (B) the rationale, including foreign avail2 ability and economic impact assessments, for 

3 adding or not adding an item to the Commerce 

4 Control List maintained under title 15, Code of 

5 Federal Regulations, pursuant to the evaluation 

6 under paragraph (1) with respect to such item; 

7 and 

8 (C) reviews by the End-User Review Com9 mittee specified in Supplement No. 9 to part 

10 748 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, 

11 with respect to the use of items identified pur12 suant to subsection (b)(1) by entities under the 

13 influence, control, or ownership of a foreign ad14 versary. 

15 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT17 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com18 mittees’’ means— 

19 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

20 the House of Representatives; and 

21 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

22 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

23 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 

24 (2) FOREIGN ADVERSARY.—The term ‘‘foreign 

25 adversary’’— 


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1 (A) has the meaning given such term in 

2 section 8(c) of the Secure and Trusted Commu3 nications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 

4 1607(c)); and 

5 (B) includes the People’s Republic of 

6 China. 

Æ 


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