Transparent and Accessible Sanctions Coordinating Office Act

Subjects: International Affairs


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1132 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1132

 To require publicly available information relating to sanctions to be 
 both user-friendly and consolidated on a publicly accessible website, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 21, 2023

Mr. Keating (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Cohen, and 
 Ms. Salazar) 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 require publicly available information relating to sanctions to be 
 both user-friendly and consolidated on a publicly accessible website, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transparent and Accessible Sanctions 
Coordinating Office Act'' or the ``TASCO Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress as follows:
            (1) The United States will increasingly use sanctions as an 
        important foreign policy tool in holding accountable malign 
        actors in the international community and to compel state and 
        non-state actors to conform to international norms.
            (2) The increasing volume of data related to United States 
        sanctions will become more crucial in determining its efficacy.
            (3) The data related to United States sanctions must be 
        centralized and regularly managed.
            (4) Data from various departments and agencies must be 
        aggregated and updated, including travel sanctions, financial 
        sanctions, trade sanctions, and export controls. Although 
        various agencies will still maintain their jurisdiction over 
        implementing these various sanctions, one office must be 
        responsible for compiling and displaying such data in an easily 
        accessible format. Various systems handing such data should 
        interface and automatically update such data in regular and 
        frequent intervals.
            (5) The United States will make available this critical 
        data related to United States sanctions to individuals, 
        academic institutions, media outlets, and non-governmental 
        organizations, conducting analysis on sanctions programs 
        through an online platform.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRANSPARENT AND ACCESSIBLE SANCTIONS 
              COORDINATING OFFICE.

    (a) In General.--The President shall take such steps as may be 
necessary to ensure that all materials relating to the imposition of 
sanctions, including guidance, lists of sanctioned persons, and 
procedures relating to general and specific licenses, are made 
available in a consolidated, machine-readable database.
    (b) Establishment.--There is established in the executive branch of 
the Federal Government the Transparent and Accessible Sanctions 
Coordinating Office (``TASCO''), which shall be responsible for 
carrying out the duties described in subsection (d).
    (c) Director and Staff.--
            (1) Appointment.--The head of the TASCO shall be a Director 
        appointed by the Secretary of State. The position of Director 
        shall be a career position in the civil service.
            (2) Staff.--The Director of the TASCO may appoint personnel 
        as the Director considers appropriate.
            (3) Applicability of certain civil service laws.--The 
        Director and the staff of the TASCO shall be appointed subject 
        to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing 
        appointments made in the competitive service, and shall be paid 
        in accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter 
        III of chapter 53 of that title relating to classification and 
        General Schedule Pay rates.
    (d) Duties.--
            (1) Database.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the 
                enactment of this Act, the Director of the TASCO shall 
                establish a publicly available, downloadable, 
                searchable, sortable, and machine-readable database of 
                individuals and entities subject to United States 
                sanctions. Such database shall be published on a 
                publicly available website of the TASCO.
                    (B) Standardized format.--In developing the 
                database under subparagraph (A), the Director of the 
                TASCO, in consultation with each covered Federal actor, 
                shall establish a standardized format for the 
                compilation, storage, and display of all data included 
                in such database.
                    (C) Required consolidation of sanctions lists.--The 
                database under subparagraph (A) shall include the 
                following--
                            (i) The List of Specially Designated 
                        Nationals and Blocked Persons maintained by the 
                        Office of Foreign Asset Control of the 
                        Department of the Treasury.
                            (ii) The Entity List maintained by the 
                        Bureau of Industry and Security of the 
                        Department of Commerce.
                            (iii) Individuals or entities subject to 
                        sanctions maintained and enforced by the Office 
                        of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation 
                        of the Department of State.
                            (iv) Any other individual or entity subject 
                        to sanctions imposed under United States law, 
                        including sanctions relating to ineligibility 
                        for visas or other authorization to enter the 
                        United States.
                    (D) Minimum data attribute requirements.--The 
                Director of the TASCO shall ensure that the data for 
                each sanction included in the database under 
                subparagraph (A) includes, at a minimum, the following:
                            (i) The name, and any alias, of the 
                        sanctioned individual or entity (including an 
                        aircraft or vessel).
                            (ii) The country of origin or citizenship 
                        of such individual or entity.
                            (iii) The industry type, if applicable.
                            (iv) The position of the individual in 
                        their organization, if applicable.
                            (v) The reason for sanction, including but 
                        not limited to the criminal violation or malign 
                        act.
                            (vi) The date of sanction.
                            (vii) The region of sanction and if 
                        available, address of registration.
                            (viii) If available, any unique tax 
                        identification number.
                            (ix) The type of sanctions, including but 
                        not limited to travel, financial, and/or trade.
                            (x) Harmonized System code, if applicable.
                            (xi) Any other data attribute relevant to 
                        the notification and reporting of sanctions 
                        activities.
                    (E) Maintenance of currency of database and 
                website.--Beginning not later than 90 days after the 
                date of the establishment of the database under 
                subparagraph (A), and not later than 30 days after the 
                entry into force of any new statutory authority or 
                Executive order relating to new or additional 
                sanctions, the Director of the TASCO shall update the 
                database, and the website on which the database is 
                published.
                    (F) Coordination.--In carrying out this paragraph, 
                the Director of the TASCO shall coordinate, as 
                appropriate, with covered Federal actors.
            (2) Report to congress.--Not later than one year after the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, 
        acting through the Director of the TASCO and in consultation 
        with each covered Federal actor, shall submit to the 
        appropriate congressional committees a report on the 
        transparency and accessibility of the database under 
        subparagraph (A) and the website on which the database is 
        published. Such report shall identify the following:
                    (A) The number of individual users who have 
                accessed the database through the website.
                    (B) Any technical actions that have been taken to 
                ensure the accessibility and transparency of data 
                available on the database.
                    (C) Any stakeholder engagement that has been 
                conducted to ensure that all relevant parties, 
                including those with decision-making authority, members 
                of the business community, and other members of civil 
                society, may effectively access such data.
    (e) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
                Representatives; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Finance of the Senate.
            (2) Civil service.--The term ``civil service'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 2101 of title 5, United 
        States Code.
            (3) Covered federal actor.--The term ``covered Federal 
        actor'' means the following:
                    (A) The Secretary of State.
                    (B) The Secretary of the Treasury.
                    (C) The Secretary of Commerce.
                    (D) The head of any other Federal department or 
                agency relevant to the imposition or enforcement of 
                United States sanctions.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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