I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3811 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study and submit to 

Congress a report on the processes of international standards-setting 

with respect to internet-connected devices, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 17, 2019 

Ms. MATSUI (for herself and Mr. MCCAUL) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study 

and submit to Congress a report on the processes of 

international standards-setting with respect to internetconnected devices, 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 ‘‘IoT Standards Leader5 ship Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) United States policy has allowed industry in 

2 the United States to innovate and lead the global 

3 technology sector; 

4 (2) as governments have sought to use country5 specific standards to hinder the innovation and in6 fluence of United States technology, the United 

7 States should demonstrate leadership and be a vocal 

8 supporter of the open, voluntary, consensus-based 

9 international standards system; 

10 (3) the United States should support multi11 stakeholder standards-development processes and ro12 bust involvement in international standards-setting 

13 bodies and organizations with respect to internet14 connected devices (commonly known as the ‘‘Internet 

15 of Things’’ or ‘‘IoT’’); 

16 (4) the United States should support standards 

17 that enable interoperability among devices and sys18 tems and are country-agnostic and vendor-neutral; 

19 (5) the United States should maintain and fos20 ter United States leadership in international stand21 ards-setting bodies and organizations with respect to 

22 internet-connected devices; 

23 (6) the United States should work with govern24 ments and nongovernmental stakeholders to deter 

25 the establishment of government-driven, country-speVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:29 Jul 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3811.IH H3811

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1 cific standards, which can be detrimental to inter2 operability and security; 

3 (7) the convergence of traditional information 

4 technology devices, networks, and systems with 

5 internet-connected devices, networks, and systems, 

6 including consumer and industrial internet-connected 

7 devices, networks, and systems, may create cyberse8 curity and interoperability challenges, including 

9 cyber exposure gap challenges, with respect to which 

10 United States leadership in international standards11 setting bodies and organizations can lead to stronger 

12 protection of networks to support the security of 

13 internet-connected devices; and 

14 (8) the United States should support standards15 development processes for internet-connected device 

16 security that focus on prioritized, flexible, repeat17 able, performance-based, and cost-effective ap18 proaches to cyber hygiene and managing risk. 

19 SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT. 

20 (a) STUDY.—The Secretary of Commerce shall con21 duct a study of the international standards-setting bodies 

22 and organizations that set standards with respect to inter23 net-connected devices and of the appropriate means to en24 sure robust United States leadership in the processes of 


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1 such bodies and organizations. In conducting the study, 

2 the Secretary shall assess— 

3 (1) the involvement of the United States in 

4 such processes; 

5 (2) efforts of countries to create country-spe6 cific standards with respect to internet-connected de7 vices that are not aligned with international stand8 ards-setting processes and international standards; 

9 (3) the progress, if any, that has been made in 

10 developing international standards with respect to 

11 internet-connected devices; 

12 (4) how to support consistent United States 

13 private and public sector participation in such bodies 

14 and organizations; and 

15 (5) the extent to which international standards 

16 for internet-connected devices focus on prioritized, 

17 flexible, repeatable, performance-based, and cost-ef18 fective approaches to cyber hygiene and managing 

19 risk. 

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

21 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

22 to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

23 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

24 Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report that 

25 contains— 


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1 (1) the results of the study required by sub2 section (a); 

3 (2) recommendations to promote the leadership 

4 of the United States and all relevant nongovern5 mental stakeholders in the processes of international 

6 standards-setting bodies and organizations for set7 ting standards with respect to internet-connected de8 vices; and 

9 (3) an assessment of whether and how the lead10 ership of the Secretary, working with governmental 

11 and nongovernmental stakeholders, can— 

12 (A) promote and strengthen international 

13 standards with respect to internet-connected de14 vices; and 

15 (B) discourage the development of country16 specific standards with respect to internet-con17 nected devices that could hinder interoperability 

18 and security. 

19 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) CYBER EXPOSURE GAP.—The term ‘‘cyber 

22 exposure gap’’ means the cybersecurity and vulner23 ability management challenges organizations face in 

24 seeing and understanding cybersecurity risk across 

25 the full range of internet-connected platforms of 


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1 such organizations, including information tech2 nology, internet-connected devices, operational tech3 nology, mobile, and cloud computing platforms. 

4 (2) INTERNET-CONNECTED DEVICE.—The term 

5 ‘‘internet-connected device’’ means a physical object 

6 that— 

7 (A) is capable of connecting to the inter8 net, either directly or indirectly through a net9 work, to communicate information; 

10 (B) has computer-processing capabilities 

11 for collecting, sending, receiving, or analyzing 

12 data; and 

13 (C) is not a general-purpose computing de14 vice, including a personal computing system or 

15 a smart mobile communications device. 

Æ 


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