I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2167 

To authorize the President to impose sanctions with respect to any foreign 

person the President determines, based on credible evidence, engages 

in public or private sector corruption activities that adversely affect 

a United States foreign investor, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2019 

Mr. CURTIS (for himself and Mr. MCCAUL) 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 President to impose sanctions with respect 

to any foreign person the President determines, based 

on credible evidence, engages in public or private sector 

corruption activities that adversely affect a United States 

foreign investor, 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 United 

5 States Businesses Abroad Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) UNITED STATES FOREIGN INVESTOR.—The 

4 term ‘‘United States foreign investor’’ means a 

5 United States person who has made a financial in6 vestment in a foreign country. 

7 (2) CREDIBLE EVIDENCE.—The term ‘‘credible 

8 evidence’’ means evidence of any kind that appears 

9 worthy of belief, including evidence consisting of the 

10 results of United States or foreign law enforcement 

11 investigations or judicial proceedings, law enforce12 ment or intelligence information available to any 

13 agency of the United States Government, informa14 tion obtained through diplomatic channels, open 

15 source information that is publicly available in the 

16 United States or foreign news media, and informa17 tion provided by any United States person or foreign 

18 person. 

19 (3) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part20 nership, association, trust, joint venture, corpora21 tion, group, subgroup, or other organization. 

22 (4) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per23 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

24 person. 

25 (5) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in26 dividual or entity. 


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1 (6) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

2 ‘‘United States person’’ means a person that is a 

3 United States citizen, permanent resident alien, enti4 ty organized under the laws of the United States or 

5 any jurisdiction within the United States (including 

6 foreign branches and entities outside the United 

7 States that are substantially owned by a United 

8 States person or persons), or any person in the 

9 United States. 

10 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS. 

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

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

13 foreign person who is an individual the President deter14 mines, based on credible evidence— 

15 (1) engages in public sector corruption activities 

16 against a United States foreign investor, including— 

17 (A) soliciting or accepting bribes; 

18 (B) using the authority of the state to ex19 tort payments, unjustly coerce or intimidate the 

20 United States foreign investor, or otherwise un21 justly thwart investment by the United States 

22 foreign investor; or 

23 (C) obstructing or otherwise improperly 

24 manipulating or interfering with the impartial 


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1 operation of judicial or law enforcement proc2 esses; 

3 (2) expropriates the assets of a United States 

4 foreign investor without providing just compensa5 tion; 

6 (3) engages in extortion, use of force, or the 

7 threat of use of force against a United States for8 eign investor or the family, employees, or associates 

9 of the United States foreign investor; or 

10 (4) conspires to engage in, or knowingly and 

11 materially assists, sponsors, or provides financial, 

12 material, or technological support for any of the ac13 tivities described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3). 

14 (b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de15 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

16 (1) The person shall be ineligible to receive a 

17 visa to enter the United States or to be admitted to 

18 the United States. 

19 (2) If the person has been issued a visa or 

20 other documentation, revocation, in accordance with 

21 section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality 

22 Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of the visa or other docu23 mentation. 

24 (c) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION IN

25 IMPOSING SANCTIONS.—In determining whether to imVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:34 Apr 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2167.IH H2167

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1 pose sanctions under subsection (a), the President shall 

2 consider— 

3 (1) information provided by United States for4 eign investors to an official of the United States 

5 Government designated by the President to receive 

6 and evaluate such information; 

7 (2) information provided by the chairperson or 

8 ranking member of each of the appropriate congres9 sional committees; and 

10 (3) credible information obtained from other 

11 countries and nongovernmental organizations, other 

12 agencies of the United States Government, or pub13 licly available open sources. 

14 (d) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH LAW ENFORCE15 MENT OBJECTIVES AND AGREEMENT REGARDING THE

16 HEADQUARTERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS.—Sanctions 

17 under subsection (b) shall not apply to a person if admit18 ting the person into the United States— 

19 (1) would further important law enforcement 

20 objectives; or 

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

22 comply with the Agreement regarding the Head23 quarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Suc24 cess June 26, 1947, and entered into force Novem25 ber 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the 


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1 United States, or other applicable international obli2 gations of the United States. 

3 (e) TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS.—The President 

4 may terminate the application of sanctions under this sec5 tion with respect to a person if the President determines 

6 and reports to the appropriate congressional committees 

7 not later than 15 days before the termination of the sanc8 tions that— 

9 (1) credible information exists that the person 

10 did not engage in the activity for which sanctions 

11 were imposed; 

12 (2) the person has been prosecuted appro13 priately for the activity for which sanctions were im14 posed; 

15 (3) the person has credibly demonstrated a sig16 nificant change in behavior, has paid an appropriate 

17 consequence for the activity for which sanctions were 

18 imposed, and has credibly committed to not engage 

19 in an activity described in subsection (a) in the fu20 ture; or 

21 (4) the termination of the sanctions is in the 

22 national security interests of the United States. 

23 (f) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The President shall 

24 issue such regulations, licenses, and orders as are nec25 essary to carry out this section. 


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1 (g) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

2 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con3 gressional committees’’ means— 

4 (1) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 

5 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep6 resentatives; and 

7 (2) the Committee on the Judiciary and the 

8 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

9 SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall submit to the 

11 appropriate congressional committees, in accordance with 

12 subsection (b), a report that includes— 

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

14 which the President imposed sanctions pursuant to 

15 section 3 during the year preceding the submission 

16 of the report; 

17 (2) the number of foreign persons with respect 

18 to which the President— 

19 (A) imposed sanctions under section 3(a) 

20 during that year; and 

21 (B) terminated sanctions under section 

22 3(f) during that year; 

23 (3) the dates on which such sanctions were im24 posed or terminated, as the case may be; 


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1 (4) the reasons for imposing or terminating 

2 such sanctions; and 

3 (5) the total number of foreign persons consid4 ered under section 3(c) for whom sanctions were not 

5 imposed. 

6 (b) DATES FOR SUBMISSION.— 

7 (1) INITIAL REPORT.—The President shall sub8 mit the initial report under subsection (a) not later 

9 than 120 days after the date of the enactment of 

10 this Act. 

11 (2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.—The President 

12 shall submit a subsequent report under subsection 

13 (a) on December 10, or the first day thereafter on 

14 which both Houses of Congress are in session, of— 

15 (A) the calendar year in which the initial 

16 report is submitted if the initial report is sub17 mitted before December 10 of that calendar 

18 year; and 

19 (B) each calendar year thereafter. 

20 (c) FORM OF REPORT.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each report required by 

22 subsection (a) shall be submitted in unclassified 

23 form, but may include a classified annex. 

24 (2) EXCEPTION.—The name of a foreign person 

25 to be included in the list required by subsection 


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1 (a)(1) may be submitted in the classified annex au2 thorized by paragraph (1) only if the President— 

3 (A) determines that it is vital for the na4 tional security interests of the United States to 

5 do so; and 

6 (B) uses the annex in a manner consistent 

7 with congressional intent and the purposes of 

8 this Act. 

9 (d) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The unclassified portion of 

11 the report required by subsection (a) shall be made 

12 available to the public, including through publication 

13 in the Federal Register. 

14 (2) NONAPPLICABILITY OF CONFIDENTIALITY

15 REQUIREMENT WITH RESPECT TO VISA RECORDS.— 

16 The President shall publish the list required by sub17 section (a)(1) without regard to the requirements of 

18 section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality 

19 Act (8 U.S.C. 1202(f)) with respect to confiden20 tiality of records pertaining to the issuance or re21 fusal of visas or permits to enter the United States. 

22 (e) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE23 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres24 sional committees’’ means— 


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1 (1) the Committee on Appropriations, the Com2 mittee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on the 

3 Judiciary of the House of Representatives; and 

4 (2) the Committee on Appropriations, the Com5 mittee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on 

6 the Judiciary of the Senate. 

7 SEC. 5. STRATEGY TO PROTECT UNITED STATES FOREIGN 

8 INVESTORS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in coordi10 nation with the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of 

11 the Treasury, and the heads of other relevant Federal de12 partments and agencies, shall develop a strategy to coordi13 nate United States Government efforts to protect United 

14 States foreign investors against corruption. The strategy 

15 shall call for the diplomatic and consular programs of the 

16 United States to protect United States foreign investors 

17 that are targeted by foreign persons engaged in public or 

18 private sector corruption. 

19 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 

21 Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congres22 sional committees a report— 

23 (1) detailing the strategy required by subsection 

24 (a); 


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1 (2) summarizing specific actions taken to pro2 tect United States foreign investors since the last re3 port; and 

4 (3) a detailed description of the tools currently 

5 available to protect United States foreign investors 

6 investing abroad from public and private sector cor7 ruption, as well as recommendations for expanding 

8 such tools to better protect United States foreign in9 vestors against corruption. 

10 (c) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 

11 In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com12 mittees’’ means— 

13 (1) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

14 Urban Affairs, the Committee on Finance, and the 

15 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate; and 

16 (2) the Committee on Financial Services, the 

17 Committee on Ways and Means, and the Committee 

18 on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. 

19 SEC. 6. SUNSET. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The authority to impose sanctions 

21 under this Act shall terminate on the date that is 6 years 

22 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

23 (b) CONTINUATION IN EFFECT OF SANCTIONS.— 

24 Sanctions imposed under this Act on or before the date 

25 specified in subsection (a), and in effect as of such date, 


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1 shall remain in effect until terminated in accordance with 

2 the requirements of section 3(e). 

Æ 


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