116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3952 

AN ACT 

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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 

3 Intellectual Property Act of 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 

5 THEFT OF TRADE SECRETS OF UNITED 

6 STATES PERSONS. 

7 (a) REPORT REQUIRED.— 

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

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

10 less frequently than every 180 days thereafter, the 

11 President shall submit to the appropriate congres12 sional committees a report— 

13 (A) identifying, for the 180-day period pre14 ceding submission of the report— 

15 (i) any foreign person that has know16 ingly engaged in, or benefitted from, sig17 nificant theft of trade secrets of United 

18 States persons, if the theft of such trade 

19 secrets is reasonably likely to result in, or 

20 has materially contributed to, a significant 

21 threat to the national security, foreign pol22 icy, or economic health or financial sta23 bility of the United States; 

24 (ii) any foreign person that has pro25 vided significant financial, material, or 

26 technological support for, or goods or serv-
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1 ices in support of or to benefit significantly 

2 from, such theft; 

3 (iii) any entity owned or controlled by, 

4 or that has acted or purported to act for 

5 or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any 

6 foreign person identified under clause (i) 

7 or (ii); and 

8 (iv) any foreign person that is a chief 

9 executive officer or member of the board of 

10 directors of any foreign entity identified 

11 under clause (i) or (ii); and 

12 (B) describing the nature, objective, and 

13 outcome of the theft of trade secrets each for14 eign person described in subparagraph (A)(i) 

15 engaged in or benefitted from; and 

16 (C) assessing whether any chief executive 

17 officer or member of the board of directors de18 scribed in clause (iv) of subparagraph (A) en19 gaged in, or benefitted from, activity described 

20 in clause (i) or (ii) of that subparagraph. 

21 (2) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report required 

22 by paragraph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified 

23 form but may include a classified annex. 

24 (b) AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS.— 
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1 (1) SANCTIONS APPLICABLE TO ENTITIES.—In 

2 the case of a foreign entity identified under subpara3 graph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in the most recent re4 port submitted under that subsection, the President 

5 shall impose one of the following: 

6 (A) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The Presi7 dent may, pursuant to the International Emer8 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

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

10 property and interests in property of the entity 

11 if such property and interests in property are in 

12 the United States, come within the United 

13 States, or are or come within the possession or 

14 control of a United States person. 

15 (B) INCLUSION ON ENTITY LIST.—The 

16 President may include the entity on the entity 

17 list maintained by the Bureau of Industry and 

18 Security of the Department of Commerce and 

19 set forth in Supplement No. 4 to part 744 of 

20 the Export Administration Regulations, for ac21 tivities contrary to the national security or for22 eign policy interests of the United States. 

23 (2) SANCTIONS APPLICABLE TO INDIVIDUALS.— 

24 In the case of an individual identified under sub25 paragraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in the most re-
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1 cent report submitted under that subsection, the fol2 lowing shall apply: 

3 (A) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The Presi4 dent shall, pursuant to the International Emer5 gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et 

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

7 property and interests in property of the indi8 vidual if such property and interests in property 

9 are in the United States, come within the 

10 United States, or are or come within the pos11 session or control of a United States person. 

12 (B) VISA BAN; EXCLUSION.—The Sec13 retary of State shall deny a visa to the indi14 vidual and revoke, in accordance with section 

15 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

16 (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), any visa or other docu17 mentation of the individual, and the Secretary 

18 of Homeland Security shall exclude the indi19 vidual from the United States. 

20 (c) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

21 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex22 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

23 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

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

25 this section. 
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1 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at2 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

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

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

5 carry out that paragraph shall be subject to the pen6 alties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 

7 206 of the International Emergency Economic Pow8 ers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a 

9 person that commits an unlawful act described in 

10 subsection (a) of that section. 

11 (d) NATIONAL INTEREST WAIVER.—The President 

12 may waive the imposition of sanctions under subsection 

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

14 (1) determines that such a waiver is in the na15 tional interests of the United States; and 

16 (2) not more than 15 days after issuing the 

17 waiver, submits to the appropriate congressional 

18 committees a notification of the waiver and the rea19 sons for the waiver. 

20 (e) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—Sanctions im21 posed under subsection (b) with respect to a foreign per22 son identified in a report submitted under subsection (a) 

23 shall terminate if the President certifies to the appropriate 

24 congressional committees, before the termination takes ef-
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1 fect, that the person is no longer engaged in the activity 

2 identified in the report. 

3 (f) EXCEPTIONS.— 

4 (1) INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES.—This section 

5 shall not apply with respect to activities subject to 

6 the reporting requirements under title V of the Na7 tional Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) 

8 or any authorized intelligence activities of the United 

9 States. 

10 (2) LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES.—Sanc11 tions under this section shall not apply with respect 

12 to any authorized law enforcement activities of the 

13 United States. 

14 (3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER15 NATIONAL AGREEMENTS.—Subsection (b)(2)(B) 

16 shall not apply with respect to the admission of an 

17 individual to the United States if such admission is 

18 necessary to comply with the obligations of the 

19 United States under the Agreement regarding the 

20 Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake 

21 Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force No22 vember 21, 1947, between the United Nations and 

23 the United States, under the Convention on Con24 sular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and 
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1 entered into force March 19, 1967, or under other 

2 international agreements. 

3 (g) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

4 GOODS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The authority or a require6 ment to impose sanctions under this section shall 

7 not include the authority or a requirement to impose 

8 sanctions on the importation of goods. 

9 (2) GOOD DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the 

10 term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or manmade 

11 substance, material, supply, or manufactured prod12 uct, including inspection and test equipment, and ex13 cluding technical data. 

14 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com17 mittees’’ means— 

18 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

19 and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For20 eign Relations of the Senate; and 

21 (B) the Committee on Financial Services 

22 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

23 House of Representatives. 

24 (2) EXPORT ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS.— 

25 The term ‘‘Export Administration Regulations’’ 
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1 means subchapter C of chapter VII of title 15, Code 

2 of Federal Regulations. 

3 (3) FOREIGN ENTITY.—The term ‘‘foreign enti4 ty’’ means an entity that is not a United States per5 son. 

6 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per7 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

8 person. 

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

10 has the meaning given that term in section 1839 of 

11 title 18, United States Code. 

12 (6) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in13 dividual or entity. 

14 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

15 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

16 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law17 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

18 United States; 

19 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

20 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

21 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

22 such an entity; or 
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1 (C) any person in the United States. 

Passed the Senate December 20, 2020. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3952 

AN ACT 

To require the imposition of sanctions with respect 

sons, and for other purposes. cant theft of trade secrets of United States perto foreign persons that have engaged in signifi-