IIB 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1189 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MARCH 28, 2023 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To require the development of a strategy to eliminate the 
availability to foreign adversaries of goods and tech-
nologies capable of supporting undersea cables, 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 ‘‘Undersea Cable Con-
trol Act’’. 
SEC. 2. STRATEGY TO ELIMINATE THE AVAILABILITY TO 
FOREIGN 
ADVERSARIES 
OF 
GOODS 
AND 
TECHNOLOGIES CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING 
UNDERSEA CABLES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President, acting through the 
Secretary of State and in consultation with the Secretary 
of Commerce, shall develop a strategy to eliminate the 
availability to foreign adversaries of goods and tech-
nologies capable of supporting undersea cables consistent 
with United States policy described in section 1752 of the 
Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4811). 
(b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The strategy re-
quired under subsection (a) shall include the following: 
(1) An identification of goods and technologies 
capable of supporting the construction, maintenance, 
or operation of an undersea cable project. 
(2) An identification of United States and mul-
tilateral export controls and licensing policies for 
goods and technologies identified pursuant to para-
graph (1) with respect to foreign adversaries. 
(3) An identification of United States allies and 
partners that have a share of the global market with 
respect to the goods and technologies so identified, 
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including a detailed description of the availability of 
such goods and technologies without restriction in 
sufficient quantities and comparable in quality to 
those produced in the United States. 
(4) A description of ongoing negotiations with 
other countries to achieve unified export controls 
and licensing policies for goods and technologies so 
identified to eliminate availability to foreign adver-
saries. 
(5) An identification of all entities under the 
control, ownership, or influence of a foreign adver-
sary that support the construction, operation, or 
maintenance of undersea cables. 
(6) A description of efforts taken to promote 
United States leadership at international standards- 
setting bodies for equipment, systems, software, and 
virtually defined networks relevant to undersea ca-
bles, taking into account the different processes fol-
lowed by such bodies. 
(7) A description of the presence and activities 
of foreign adversaries at international standards-set-
ting bodies relevant to undersea cables, including in-
formation on the differences in the scope and scale 
of the engagement of foreign adversaries at such 
bodies compared to engagement at such bodies by 
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the United States and its allies and partners, and 
the security risks raised by the proposals of foreign 
adversaries at such bodies. 
(c) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act and annually 
thereafter for 3 years, the President shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a report 
that contains the strategy required under subsection 
(a). 
(2) FORM.—Each report required under this 
subsection shall— 
(A) be submitted in unclassified form, but 
may contain a classified annex; and 
(B) be made available on a publicly acces-
sible Federal Government website. 
(d) AGREEMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall seek to— 
(A) establish bilateral or plurilateral agree-
ments with allies and partners identified pursu-
ant to subsection (b)(3) to seek to eliminate the 
availability to foreign adversaries of goods and 
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technologies identified pursuant to subsection 
(b)(1); and 
(B) include in such agreements penalty 
provisions for non-compliance. 
(2) BRIEFINGS.—The President shall brief the 
congressional committees specified in subsection 
(c)(1) on negotiations to establish agreements de-
scribed in paragraph (1) beginning not later than 30 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act and 
every 180 days thereafter until each such agreement 
is established. 
(e) ACTIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 
shall evaluate the export, reexport, and in-country 
transfer of the technologies identified pursuant to 
subsection (b)(1) for appropriate controls under the 
Export Administration Regulations, including by 
evaluating, for each technology so identified, whether 
to add the technology to the Commerce Control List 
maintained under title 15, Code of Federal Regula-
tions. 
(2) LEVELS OF CONTROL.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—In determining the 
level of control appropriate for technologies 
identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1), includ-
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