IIB 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8453 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To provide for the imposition of sanctions with respect to 
foreign persons undermining the Dayton Peace Agree-
ment or threatening the security of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Upholding the Dayton 
Peace Agreement Through Sanctions Act’’. 
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s sov-
ereignty, territorial integrity, and multi-ethnic char-
acter; 
(2) 
to 
back 
and 
bolster 
Bosnia 
and 
Herzegovina’s progress towards Euro-Atlantic inte-
gration; 
(3) to encourage officials in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina to resume institutional participation at 
all levels of government to advance functionality and 
common-sense reforms for greater prosperity and for 
Bosnia and Herzegovina to obtain European Union 
candidate status; 
(4) to push Bosnia and Herzegovina to imple-
ment the rulings of the European Court of Human 
Rights; 
(5) to advocate for robust participation in the 
October 2, 2022, general elections in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina; 
(6) to utilize targeted sanctions against persons 
who undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and 
democratic institutions, including by blocking, boy-
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cotting or not recognizing the results of elections, in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina to support peace and sta-
bility in that country; 
(7) to urge the European Union to join the 
United States and United Kingdom in sanctioning 
Milorad Dodik, a member of the Presidency of Bos-
nia and Herzegovina, for his actions that undermine 
the stability and territorial integrity of Bosnia and 
Herzegovina; 
(8) to expose and condemn the Government of 
Russia for its role in fueling instability in Bosnia 
and Herzegovina and undermining the Dayton Peace 
Agreement, the role of the Office of the High Rep-
resentative, and the European Union Force in BiH’s 
Operation Althea; 
(9) to work with other regional States, includ-
ing Serbia and Croatia, to support the territorial in-
tegrity and stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and 
(10) to use its voice and vote at the United Na-
tions, the Peace Implementation Council and its 
Steering Board, and other relevant international 
bodies to support the Office of the High Representa-
tive. 
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SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FOR-
EIGN PERSONS UNDERMINING THE DAYTON 
PEACE AGREEMENT OR THREATENING THE 
SECURITY OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. 
(a) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.— 
(1) LIST REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, and an-
nually thereafter for five years, the President shall 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees 
a list of foreign persons that are determined— 
(A) to be responsible for or complicit in, or 
to have directly or indirectly engaged in, any 
action or policy that threatens the peace, secu-
rity, stability, or territorial integrity of Bosnia 
and Herzegovina, including actions that seek to 
undermine 
the 
authority 
of 
Bosnia 
and 
Herzegovina’s state-level institutions, such as 
forming illegal parallel institutions or actions 
that threaten the Office of the High Represent-
ative; 
(B) to be responsible for or complicit in, or 
to have directly or indirectly engaged in, any 
action or policy that undermines democratic 
processes 
or 
institutions 
in 
Bosnia 
and 
Herzegovina; 
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(C) to be responsible for or complicit in, or 
to have directly or indirectly engaged in, or to 
have attempted, a violation of, or an act that 
has obstructed or threatened the implementa-
tion of, the Dayton Peace Agreement or the 
Conclusions of the Peace Implementation Con-
ference Council held in London in December 
1995, including the decisions or conclusions of 
the Office of the High Representative, the 
Peace Implementation Council, or its Steering 
Board; 
(D) to be a member, official, or senior 
leader of an illegal parallel institution or any 
other institution that engages in activities de-
scribed in subparagraph (A), (B) or (C), as de-
termined by the Secretary of State; 
(E) to be responsible for or complicit in, or 
to have directly or indirectly engaged in, or at-
tempted to engage in, corruption related to 
Bosnia and Herzegovina, including corruption 
by, on behalf of, or otherwise related to the gov-
ernment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or a cur-
rent or former government official at any level 
of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, such 
as the misappropriation of public assets, expro-
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priation of private assets for personal gain or 
political purposes, corruption related to govern-
ment contracts or the extraction of natural re-
sources or bribery; 
(F) to be an adult family member of any 
foreign person described in subparagraph (A), 
(B), (C), (D), or (E) unless they have con-
demned the sanctionable activity and taken tan-
gible steps to oppose the activity; 
(G) to have knowingly facilitated a signifi-
cant transaction or transactions for or on be-
half of a foreign person described in subpara-
graph (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E); 
(H) to be owned or controlled by, or to 
have acted or purported to act for or on behalf 
of, directly or indirectly, a foreign person de-
scribed in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), or 
(E); or 
(I) to have knowingly materially assisted, 
sponsored, or provided financial, material, or 
technological support for, or goods or services 
to or in support of, a foreign person described 
in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), (D), or (E). 
(2) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.—Upon the sub-
mission of each list required by paragraph (1), the 
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President shall impose the sanctions described in 
subsection (c) with respect to each foreign person 
identified on the list. 
(b) ADDITIONAL MEASURE RELATING TO FACILITA-
TION OF TRANSACTIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury 
may, in consultation with the Secretary of State, prohibit 
or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining 
in the United States of a correspondent account or pay-
able-through account by a foreign financial institution 
that the President determines has, on or after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, knowingly conducted or fa-
cilitated a significant transaction or transactions on behalf 
of a foreign person on the list required by subsection 
(a)(1). 
(c) SANCTIONS
DESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-
scribed in this subsection are the following: 
(1) PROPERTY
BLOCKING.—Notwithstanding 
the requirements of section 202 of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701), 
the President may exercise of all powers granted to 
the President by that Act to the extent necessary to 
block and prohibit all transactions in all property 
and interests in property of the foreign person if 
such property and interests in property are in the 
United States, come within the United States, or are 
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less of when the visa or other entry docu-
mentation is issued. 
(ii) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.—A visa 
or other entry documentation revoked 
under clause (i) shall— 
(I) take effect immediately; and 
(II) automatically cancel any 
other valid visa or entry documenta-
tion that is in the alien’s possession. 
(d) EXCEPTIONS.— 
(1) EXCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE, LAW EN-
FORCEMENT, 
AND
NATIONAL
SECURITY
ACTIVI-
TIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply 
to any authorized intelligence, law enforcement, or 
national security activities of the United States. 
(2) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH UNITED NA-
TIONS
HEADQUARTERS
AGREEMENT.—Sanctions 
under subsection (c)(2) shall not apply with respect 
to the admission of an alien to the United States if 
the admission of the alien is necessary to permit the 
United States to comply with the Agreement regard-
ing the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed 
at Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into 
force November 21, 1947, between the United Na-
tions and the United States, the Convention on Con-
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sular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and 
entered into force March 19, 1967, or other applica-
ble international obligations. 
(3) EXCEPTION RELATING TO THE PROVISION 
OF
HUMANITARIAN
ASSISTANCE.—Sanctions under 
this section may not be imposed with respect to 
transactions or the facilitation of transactions for— 
(A) the sale of agricultural commodities, 
food, medicine, or medical devices; 
(B) the provision of humanitarian assist-
ance; 
(C) financial transactions relating to hu-
manitarian assistance or for humanitarian pur-
poses; and 
(D) transporting goods or services that are 
necessary to carry out operations relating to 
humanitarian assistance or humanitarian pur-
poses. 
(e) WAIVER.—The President may, on a case-by-case 
basis and for periods not to exceed 180 days each, waive 
the application of sanctions or restrictions imposed with 
respect to a foreign person under this section if the Presi-
dent certifies to the appropriate congressional committees 
not later than 15 days before such waiver is to take effect 
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that the waiver is vital to the national interest of the 
United States. 
(f) REGULATIONS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The President shall, not 
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, prescribe regulations as necessary for 
the implementation of this Act. 
(2) NOTIFICATION
TO
CONGRESS.—Not later 
than 10 days before the prescription of regulations 
under paragraph (1), the President shall notify the 
appropriate congressional committees regarding the 
proposed regulations and the provisions of this Act 
that the regulations are implementing. 
(g) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may exercise 
all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 
U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this Act. 
(h) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in sub-
sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall 
apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, con-
spires to violate, or causes a violation of regulations pre-
scribed to carry out this Act to the same extent that such 
penalties apply to a person that commits an unlawful act 
described in subsection (a) of such section 206. 
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(i) TERMINATION
OF SANCTIONS.—The President 
may terminate the application of sanctions under this sec-
tion with respect to a foreign person if the President deter-
mines and reports to the appropriate congressional com-
mittees not later than 15 days before the termination of 
the sanctions that— 
(1) credible information exists that the foreign 
person did not engage in the activity for which sanc-
tions were imposed; 
(2) the foreign person has been prosecuted ap-
propriately for the activity for which sanctions were 
imposed; or 
(3) the foreign person has credibly dem-
onstrated a significant change in behavior, has paid 
an appropriate consequence for the activity for 
which sanctions were imposed, and has credibly com-
mitted to not engage in an activity described in sub-
section (a)(1) in the future. 
(j) SUNSET.—The authority to impose sanctions 
under this section shall terminate on the date that is five 
years after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION IN IM-
POSING SANCTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after re-
ceiving a request from the chairman and ranking member 
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of one of the appropriate congressional committees with 
respect to whether a person, foreign person, or foreign fi-
nancial institution, as the case may be, meets the criteria 
described in this Act, Executive Order 14033 (86 Fed. 
Reg. 31079; relating to blocking property and suspending 
entry into the United States of certain persons contrib-
uting to the destabilizing situation in the Western Bal-
kans), or any Executive order issued pursuant to this Act 
or under the Balkans regulatory regime, the President 
shall— 
(1) determine if the person, foreign person, or 
foreign financial institution, as the case may be, 
meets such criteria; and 
(2) submit a classified or unclassified report to 
such chairman and ranking member with respect to 
such determination that includes a statement of 
whether or not the President imposed or intends to 
impose sanctions with respect to such person, for-
eign person, or foreign financial institution. 
(b) SUNSET.—This section shall terminate on the 
date that is five years after the date of enactment of this 
Act. 
SEC. 5. EXCEPTION FOR IMPORTATION OF GOODS. 
(a) EXCEPTION RELATING
TO IMPORTATION
OF 
GOODS.—The authorities and requirements to impose 
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