IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1189 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2023 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

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, 


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HR 1189 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Undersea Cable Con3 trol Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. STRATEGY TO ELIMINATE THE AVAILABILITY TO 

5 FOREIGN ADVERSARIES OF GOODS AND 

6 TECHNOLOGIES CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING 

7 UNDERSEA CABLES. 

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

9 Secretary of State and in consultation with the Secretary 

10 of Commerce, shall develop a strategy to eliminate the 

11 availability to foreign adversaries of goods and tech12 nologies capable of supporting undersea cables consistent 

13 with United States policy described in section 1752 of the 

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

15 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy re16 quired under subsection (a) shall include the following: 

17 (1) An identification of goods and technologies 

18 capable of supporting the construction, maintenance, 

19 or operation of an undersea cable project. 

20 (2) An identification of United States and mul21 tilateral export controls and licensing policies for 

22 goods and technologies identified pursuant to para23 graph (1) with respect to foreign adversaries. 

24 (3) An identification of United States allies and 

25 partners that have a share of the global market with 

26 respect to the goods and technologies so identified, 


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1 including a detailed description of the availability of 

2 such goods and technologies without restriction in 

3 sufficient quantities and comparable in quality to 

4 those produced in the United States. 

5 (4) A description of ongoing negotiations with 

6 other countries to achieve unified export controls 

7 and licensing policies for goods and technologies so 

8 identified to eliminate availability to foreign adver9 saries. 

10 (5) An identification of all entities under the 

11 control, ownership, or influence of a foreign adver12 sary that support the construction, operation, or 

13 maintenance of undersea cables. 

14 (6) A description of efforts taken to promote 

15 United States leadership at international standards16 setting bodies for equipment, systems, software, and 

17 virtually defined networks relevant to undersea ca18 bles, taking into account the different processes fol19 lowed by such bodies. 

20 (7) A description of the presence and activities 

21 of foreign adversaries at international standards-set22 ting bodies relevant to undersea cables, including in23 formation on the differences in the scope and scale 

24 of the engagement of foreign adversaries at such 

25 bodies compared to engagement at such bodies by 


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1 the United States and its allies and partners, and 

2 the security risks raised by the proposals of foreign 

3 adversaries at such bodies. 

4 (c) REPORT.— 

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

6 the date of the enactment of this Act and annually 

7 thereafter for 3 years, the President shall submit to 

8 the appropriate congressional committees a report 

9 that contains the strategy required under subsection 

10 (a). 

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

12 subsection shall— 

13 (A) be submitted in unclassified form, but 

14 may contain a classified annex; and 

15 (B) be made available on a publicly acces16 sible Federal Government website. 

17 (d) AGREEMENT.— 

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

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

20 shall seek to— 

21 (A) establish bilateral or plurilateral agree22 ments with allies and partners identified pursu23 ant to subsection (b)(3) to seek to eliminate the 

24 availability to foreign adversaries of goods and 


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1 technologies identified pursuant to subsection 

2 (b)(1); and 

3 (B) include in such agreements penalty 

4 provisions for non-compliance. 

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

6 congressional committees specified in subsection 

7 (c)(1) on negotiations to establish agreements de8 scribed in paragraph (1) beginning not later than 30 

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

10 every 180 days thereafter until each such agreement 

11 is established. 

12 (e) ACTIONS.— 

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

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

15 transfer of the technologies identified pursuant to 

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

17 Export Administration Regulations, including by 

18 evaluating, for each technology so identified, whether 

19 to add the technology to the Commerce Control List 

20 maintained under title 15, Code of Federal Regula21 tions. 

22 (2) LEVELS OF CONTROL.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—In determining the 

24 level of control appropriate for technologies 

25 identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1), includVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Mar 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1189.RFS H1189

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1 ing requirements for a license or other author2 ization for the export, reexport, or in-country 

3 transfer of any such technology, the Secretary 

4 of Commerce (in coordination with the Sec5 retary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and 

6 the heads of other Federal agencies, as appro7 priate) shall take into account the potential end 

8 uses and end users of the technology. 

9 (B) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—At a min10 imum, it is the policy of the United States to 

11 work with its allies and partners to control the 

12 export, reexport, or in-country transfer of tech13 nologies identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1) 

14 to or in a country subject to an embargo, in15 cluding an arms embargo, imposed by the 

16 United States. 

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

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

19 thereafter for 3 years, the President, acting through 

20 the Secretary of Commerce, shall submit to the ap21 propriate congressional committees an unclassified 

22 notification describing the results of actions taken 

23 pursuant to this subsection in the preceding period, 

24 including a description of— 


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1 (A) the individual items evaluated for con2 trols; 

3 (B) the rationale, including foreign avail4 ability and economic impact assessments, for 

5 adding or not adding an item to the Commerce 

6 Control List maintained under title 15, Code of 

7 Federal Regulations, pursuant to the evaluation 

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

9 and 

10 (C) reviews by the End-User Review Com11 mittee specified in Supplement No. 9 to part 

12 748 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, 

13 with respect to the use of items identified pur14 suant to subsection (b)(1) by entities under the 

15 influence, control, or ownership of a foreign ad16 versary. 

17 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT19 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com20 mittees’’ means— 

21 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

22 the House of Representatives; and 

23 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

24 and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

25 Urban Affairs of the Senate. 


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

2 adversary’’— 

3 (A) has the meaning given such term in 

4 section 8(c) of the Secure and Trusted Commu5 nications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 

6 1607(c)); and 

7 (B) includes the People’s Republic of 

8 China. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 27, 

2023. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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