I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7733 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to the deliberate concealment or distortion of information about public health emergencies of 

international concern, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2020 

Mr. CURTIS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 

for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 

for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 

committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to 

the deliberate concealment or distortion of information 

about public health emergencies of international concern, 

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 ‘‘Li Wenliang Global 

5 Public Health Accountability Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) On January 3, 2020, the leading public 

2 health authority in the People’s Republic of China, 

3 the National Health Commission, directed all Chi4 nese research institutions to cease publicly pub5 lishing any information related to a then unknown 

6 SARS-like virus, and ordered them to destroy exist7 ing samples of the virus or transfer them to ap8 proved testing sites. 

9 (2) On December 30, 2019, Dr. Li Wenliang 

10 warned his medical school classmates of an outbreak 

11 of an unknown SARS-like virus over WeChat. 

12 (3) On January 3, 2020, Wuhan’s Public Secu13 rity Bureau detained, questioned, and forced Dr. Li 

14 Wenliang and seven other doctors to sign a letter 

15 confessing he had made ‘‘false comments’’ that ‘‘se16 verely disturbed the social order’’. 

17 (4) On February 7, 2020, one month after 

18 checking into Wuhan Central Hospital, Dr. Li 

19 Wenliang died of a severe case of coronavirus dis20 ease 2019 (commonly known as ‘‘COVID-19’’). 

21 (5) China’s National Health Commission pub22 licly denied COVID–19 was person-to-person trans23 missible until January 15, 2020, despite having un24 covered contrary evidence in late December 2019 


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1 and being alerted of the transmissibility of COVID– 

2 19 on January 1, 2020. 

3 (6) China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Zhao 

4 Lijian, claimed that COVID–19 originated in the 

5 United States and that the United States Army 

6 brought the virus to Wuhan to wage biological war7 fare on China. 

8 (7) Other Chinese Government officials, includ9 ing scientists working on China’s COVID–19 re10 sponse, China’s Ambassador to South Africa and 

11 China’s Ambassador to Australia have claimed that 

12 there is no evidence that COVID–19 originated in 

13 China. 

14 (8) A study by the University of Southampton 

15 found that had China taken action 3 weeks earlier, 

16 the spread of COVID-19 could have been reduced by 

17 95 percent. 

18 (9) On July 21, 2020, Representative Adam 

19 Smith defended the Chinese Government’s hiding 

20 the true nature of COVID-19 when he said, ‘‘It’s 

21 not actually their job to warn the American people’’. 

22 (10) According to the World Health Organiza23 tion’s for the Use of Annex 2 of the International 

24 Health Regulations, China was legally obligated to 


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1 notify the World Health Organization about the 

2 COVID-19 outbreak. 

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President may impose the 

5 sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to any 

6 foreign person the President determines, based on credible 

7 evidence— 

8 (1) is a government official, or a senior asso9 ciate of such an official, that is responsible for, or 

10 complicit in, ordering, controlling, or otherwise di11 recting, or financially benefits from, acts intended to 

12 deliberately conceal or distort information, including 

13 through forced detentions or disappearances of per14 sons, about a public health emergency of inter15 national concern, including COVID-19; or 

16 (2) has materially assisted, sponsored, or pro17 vided financial, material, or technological support 

18 for, or goods or services in support of, an act de19 scribed in paragraph (1). 

20 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de21 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

22 (1) INADMISSIBILITY TO UNITED STATES.—In 

23 the case of a foreign person who is an individual— 


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1 (A) ineligibility to receive a visa to enter 

2 the United States or to be admitted to the 

3 United States; or 

4 (B) if the individual has been issued a visa 

5 or other documentation, revocation, in accord6 ance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and 

7 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of the visa 

8 or other documentation. 

9 (2) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—The blocking, in ac11 cordance with the International Emergency 

12 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), 

13 of all transactions in all property and interests 

14 in property of a foreign person if such property 

15 and interests in property are in the United 

16 States, come within the United States, or are or 

17 come within the possession or control of a 

18 United States person. 

19 (B) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTA20 TION OF GOODS.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—The authority to 

22 block and prohibit all transactions in all 

23 property and interests in property under 

24 subparagraph (A) shall not include the auVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:30 Aug 14, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7733.IH H7733

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1 thority to impose sanctions on the importa2 tion of goods. 

3 (ii) GOOD DEFINED.—In this subpara4 graph, the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, 

5 natural or manmade substance, material, 

6 supply, or manufactured product, including 

7 inspection and test equipment, and exclud8 ing technical data. 

9 (c) REQUESTS BY APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL

10 COMMITTEES.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

12 after receiving a request that meets the require13 ments of paragraph (2) with respect to whether a 

14 foreign person is described in subsection (a), the 

15 President shall— 

16 (A) determine if that person is so de17 scribed; and 

18 (B) submit a classified or unclassified re19 port to the chairperson and ranking member of 

20 the committee or committees that submitted the 

21 request with respect to that determination that 

22 includes— 

23 (i) a statement of whether or not the 

24 President imposed or intends to impose 

25 sanctions with respect to the person; and 


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1 (ii) if the President imposed or in2 tends to impose sanctions, a description of 

3 those sanctions. 

4 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A request under para5 graph (1) with respect to whether a foreign person 

6 is described in subsection (a) shall be submitted to 

7 the President in writing jointly by the chairperson 

8 and ranking member of one of the appropriate con9 gressional committees. 

10 (d) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NATIONS

11 HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

12 OBJECTIVES.—Sanctions under subsection (b)(1) shall 

13 not apply to an individual if admitting the individual into 

14 the United States— 

15 (1) would further important law enforcement 

16 objectives; or 

17 (2) is necessary to permit the United States to 

18 comply with the Agreement regarding the Head19 quarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Suc20 cess June 26, 1947, and entered into force Novem21 ber 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the 

22 United States, or other applicable international obli23 gations of the United States. 


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1 (e) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH NATIONAL SECU2 RITY.—The following activities shall be exempt from sanc3 tions under this section: 

4 (1) Activities subject to the reporting require5 ments under title V of the National Security Act of 

6 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.). 

7 (2) Any authorized intelligence or law enforce8 ment activities of the United States. 

9 (f) ENFORCEMENT OF BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 

10 A person that violates, attempts to violate, conspires to 

11 violate, or causes a violation of subsection (b)(2) or any 

12 regulation, license, or order issued to carry out that sub13 section shall be subject to the penalties set forth in sub14 sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 

15 Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 

16 same extent as a person that commits an unlawful act de17 scribed in subsection (a) of that section. 

18 (g) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 120 days 

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

20 thereafter, the President shall submit to the appropriate 

21 congressional committees a report that includes— 

22 (1) a list of each foreign person with respect to 

23 which the President imposed sanctions under sub24 section (b) during the year preceding the submission 

25 of the report; 


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1 (2) a description of the type of sanctions im2 posed with respect to each such person; 

3 (3) the number of foreign persons with respect 

4 to which the President— 

5 (A) imposed sanctions under subsection (b) 

6 during that year; or 

7 (B) terminated sanctions under subsection 

8 (h) during that year; 

9 (4) the dates on which such sanctions were im10 posed or terminated, as the case may be; 

11 (5) the reasons for imposing or terminating 

12 such sanctions; and 

13 (6) a description of the efforts of the President 

14 to encourage the governments of other countries to 

15 impose sanctions that are similar to the sanctions 

16 authorized by this section. 

17 (h) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The President 

18 may terminate the application of sanctions under this sec19 tion with respect to a person if the President determines 

20 and reports to the appropriate congressional committees 

21 not later than 15 days before the termination of the sanc22 tions that— 

23 (1) credible information exists that the person 

24 did not engage in the activity for which sanctions 

25 were imposed; 


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1 (2) the person has been prosecuted appro2 priately for the activity for which sanctions were im3 posed; 

4 (3) the forced detention or disappearance of the 

5 individual or individuals for whom the sanctions 

6 have been imposed are no longer missing or de7 tained; 

8 (4) the person has provided material informa9 tion that— 

10 (A) leads to the location or liberation of 

11 the missing or detained individual or individuals 

12 in question; or 

13 (B) leads to the arrest or prosecution of 

14 others responsible for such acts described in 

15 subsection (a); or 

16 (5) the termination of the sanctions is in the 

17 national security interests of the United States. 

18 (i) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The President shall 

19 issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are nec20 essary to carry out this section. 

21 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT23 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com24 mittees’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 

2 and Urban Affairs and the Committee on For3 eign Relations of the Senate; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Financial Services 

5 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

6 House of Representatives. 

7 (2) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per8 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

9 person. 

10 (3) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in11 dividual or entity. 

12 (4) PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY OF INTER13 NATIONAL CONCERN.—The term ‘‘public health 

14 emergency of international concern’’ means a public 

15 health emergency determined to be a public health 

16 emergency of international concern by the World 

17 Health Organization. 

18 (5) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

19 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

20 (A) an individual who is a United States 

21 citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for perma22 nent residence to the United States; or 

23 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

24 the United States or any jurisdiction within the 


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1 United States, including a foreign branch of 

2 such an entity. 

3 (k) SUNSET.—This Act shall terminate on the date 

4 that is 10 years after the date of the enactment of this 

5 Act. 

Æ 


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