II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3952 

To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to foreign persons that 

have engaged in significant theft of trade secrets of United States persons, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2020 

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

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

A BILL 

To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to foreign 

persons that have engaged in significant theft of trade 

secrets of 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 ‘‘Protecting American 

5 Intellectual Property Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 

7 THEFT OF TRADE SECRETS OF UNITED 

8 STATES PERSONS. 

9 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not 

3 less frequently than every 180 days thereafter, the 

4 President shall submit to the appropriate congres5 sional committees a report— 

6 (A) identifying, for the 180-day period pre7 ceding submission of the report— 

8 (i) any foreign person that has en9 gaged in, or benefitted from, significant 

10 and serial theft of trade secrets of United 

11 States persons, if the theft of such trade 

12 secrets is reasonably likely to result in, or 

13 has materially contributed to, a significant 

14 threat to the national security, foreign pol15 icy, or economic health or financial sta16 bility of the United States; 

17 (ii) any foreign person that has mate18 rially assisted or sponsored such theft; 

19 (iii) any foreign person that has pro20 vided financial, material, or technological 

21 support for, or goods or services in support 

22 of or to benefit from, such theft; 

23 (iv) any entity owned or controlled by, 

24 or that has acted or purported to act for 

25 or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any 


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1 foreign person identified under clause (i), 

2 (ii), or (iii); and 

3 (v) any chief executive officer or mem4 ber of the board of directors of any foreign 

5 entity identified under clause (i), (ii), or 

6 (iii); and 

7 (B) describing the nature, objective, and 

8 outcome of the theft of trade secrets each for9 eign person described in subparagraph (A)(i) 

10 engaged in or benefitted from; and 

11 (C) assessing whether any chief executive 

12 officer or member of the board of directors de13 scribed in clause (v) of subparagraph (A) en14 gaged in, or benefitted from, activity described 

15 in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of that subparagraph. 

16 (2) EXCEPTION.—The President is not required 

17 to include in a report required by paragraph (1) the 

18 name of any foreign person that is the subject of an 

19 active United States law enforcement investigation. 

20 (3) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required 

21 by paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified 

22 form but may include a classified annex. 

23 (b) AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS.— 

24 (1) SANCTIONS APPLICABLE TO ENTITIES.—In 

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1 graph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in the most recent re2 port submitted under that subsection, the President 

3 shall impose one of the following: 

4 (A) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The Presi5 dent may, pursuant to the International Emer6 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

7 seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in all 

8 property and interests in property of the entity 

9 if such property and interests in property are in 

10 the United States, come within the United 

11 States, or are or come within the possession or 

12 control of a United States person. 

13 (B) INCLUSION ON DENIED PERSONS

14 LIST.—The President may include the entity on 

15 the Denied Persons List maintained by the Bu16 reau of Industry and Security of the Depart17 ment of Commerce pursuant to section 

18 764.3(a)(2) of the Export Administration Regu19 lations. 

20 (2) SANCTIONS APPLICABLE TO INDIVIDUALS.— 

21 In the case of an individual identified under sub22 paragraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in the most re23 cent report submitted under that subsection, the fol24 lowing shall apply: 


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1 (A) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The Presi2 dent shall, pursuant to the International Emer3 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

4 seq.), block and prohibit all transactions in all 

5 property and interests in property of the indi6 vidual if such property and interests in property 

7 are in the United States, come within the 

8 United States, or are or come within the pos9 session or control of a United States person. 

10 (B) VISA BAN; EXCLUSION.—The Sec11 retary of State shall deny a visa to the indi12 vidual and revoke, in accordance with section 

13 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

14 (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), any visa or other docu15 mentation of the individual, and the Secretary 

16 of Homeland Security shall exclude the indi17 vidual from the United States. 

18 (c) EXCEPTIONS.— 

19 (1) INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES.—This section 

20 shall not apply with respect to activities subject to 

21 the reporting requirements under title V of the Na22 tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) 

23 or any authorized intelligence activities of the United 

24 States. 


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1 (2) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

2 GOODS.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority to im4 pose sanctions under paragraph (1)(A) or 

5 (2)(A) of subsection (b) shall not include the 

6 authority or a requirement to impose sanctions 

7 on the importation of goods. 

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

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

10 manmade substance, material, supply, or manu11 factured product, including inspection and test 

12 equipment, and excluding technical data. 

13 (3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER14 NATIONAL AGREEMENTS.—Subsection (b)(2)(B) 

15 shall not apply with respect to the admission of an 

16 individual to the United States if such admission is 

17 necessary to comply with the obligations of the 

18 United States under the Agreement regarding the 

19 Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake 

20 Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force No21 vember 21, 1947, between the United Nations and 

22 the United States, under the Convention on Con23 sular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and 

24 entered into force March 19, 1967, or under other 

25 international agreements. 


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1 (d) NATIONAL SECURITY WAIVER.—The President 

2 may waive the imposition of sanctions under subsection 

3 (b) with respect to a person if the President— 

4 (1) determines that such a waiver is in the na5 tional security interests of the United States; and 

6 (2) submits to the appropriate congressional 

7 committees a notification of the waiver and the rea8 sons for the waiver. 

9 (e) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—Sanctions im10 posed under subsection (b) with respect to a foreign per11 son identified in a report submitted under subsection (a) 

12 shall terminate if the President certifies to the appropriate 

13 congressional committees that the person is no longer en14 gaged in the activity identified in the report. 

15 (f) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

16 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex17 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

18 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

19 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

20 this section. 

21 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at22 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

23 violation of paragraph (1)(A) or (2)(A) of subsection 

24 (b) or any regulation, license, or order issued to 

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1 alties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 

2 206 of the International Emergency Economic Pow3 ers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a 

4 person that commits an unlawful act described in 

5 subsection (a) of that section. 

6 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT8 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com9 mittees’’ means— 

10 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

11 and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For12 eign Relations of the Senate; and 

13 (B) the Committee on Financial Services 

14 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

15 House of Representatives. 

16 (2) EXPORT ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS.— 

17 The term ‘‘Export Administration Regulations’’ 

18 means subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code 

19 of Federal Regulations. 

20 (3) FOREIGN ENTITY.—The term ‘‘foreign enti21 ty’’ means an entity that is not a United States per22 son. 

23 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per24 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

25 person. 


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1 (5) TRADE SECRET.—The term ‘‘trade secret’’ 

2 has the meaning given that term in section 1839 of 

3 title 18, United States Code. 

4 (6) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in5 dividual or entity. 

6 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

7 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

8 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law9 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

10 United States; or 

11 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

12 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

13 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

14 such an entity. 

Æ 


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