I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1795 
To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommunications companies 
engaged in economic or industrial espionage against United States per-
sons, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 3, 2025 
Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself and Mr. STRONG) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To impose sanctions with respect to foreign telecommuni-
cations companies engaged in economic or industrial espi-
onage against United States persons, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Neutralizing Emerging 
Threats from Wireless OEMs Receiving direction from 
Kleptocracies and Surveillance states Act’’ or the ‘‘NET-
WORKS Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) secure telecommunications networks, both 
domestically and within partner and allied nations, 
are important to the national security of the United 
States; 
(2) the risks posed by untrusted telecommuni-
cations vendors, particularly those based in the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China, to communications, data se-
curity, and the viability of networks outweigh any 
potential benefits; and 
(3) the United States Government should use 
the tools of economic statecraft to promote secure 
telecommunications networks. 
SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO ECO-
NOMIC OR INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE BY FOR-
EIGN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—On and after the date that is 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi-
dent shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi-
dent under the International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to 
block and prohibit all significant transactions in property 
and interests in property of a foreign person described in 
subsection (b) if such property and interests in property 
are in the United States, come within the United States, 
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or are or come within the possession or control of a United 
States person. 
(b) FOREIGN PERSONS DESCRIBED.—A foreign per-
son is described in this subsection if the President deter-
mines that the person, on or after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act— 
(1) produces fifth or future generation tele-
communications technology; and 
(2) conducts business relating to such tele-
communications technology in a manner contrary to 
the United States’ national security interests. 
(c) EXCEPTIONS.— 
(1) EXCEPTION
FOR
INTELLIGENCE
ACTIVI-
TIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not apply 
to any activity subject to the reporting requirements 
under title V of the National Security Act of 1947 
(50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.) or any authorized intel-
ligence activities of the United States. 
(2) 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; 
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(B) the provision of humanitarian assist-
ance; 
(C) financial transactions relating to hu-
manitarian assistance; or 
(D) transporting goods or services that are 
necessary to carry out operations relating to 
humanitarian assistance. 
(d) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-
tion of sanctions under this section with respect to a for-
eign person for renewable periods of not more than 90 
days each if the President determines and reports to Con-
gress that such a waiver is vital to the national security 
interests of the United States. 
(e) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 
(1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex-
ercise the authorities provided to the President 
under sections 203 and 205 of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 
and 1704) to the extent necessary to carry out this 
section. 
(2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at-
tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 
violation of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, 
or order issued to carry out that subsection shall be 
subject to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) 
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and (c) of section 206 of the International Emer-
gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the 
same extent as a person that commits an unlawful 
act described in subsection (a) of that section. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section: 
(A) FIFTH
OR
FUTURE
GENERATION 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY.—The 
term ‘‘fifth or future generation telecommuni-
cations technology’’ means telecommunications 
technology that conforms to the technical stand-
ards followed by the telecommunications indus-
try for telecommunications technology that is 
commonly known in the industry as fifth gen-
eration or future generation technology. 
(B) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign 
person’’ means any person that is not a United 
States person. 
(C) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, 
with respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a 
result, means that a person has actual knowl-
edge, or should have known, of the conduct, the 
circumstance, or the result. 
(D) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means 
an individual or entity. 
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(E) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 
‘‘United States person’’ means— 
(i) a United States citizen or an alien 
lawfully admitted for permanent residence 
to the United States; or 
(ii) an entity organized under the laws 
of the United States or any jurisdiction 
within the United States, including a for-
eign branch of such an entity. 
(F) UNTRUSTED
TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
VENDOR.—The term ‘‘untrusted telecommuni-
cations vendor’’ has the meaning given to the 
term ‘‘covered communications equipment or 
service’’ in section 9 of the Secure and Trusted 
Communications Network Act of 2019 (47 
U.S.C. 1608). 
(2) DETERMINATION
OF
SIGNIFICANCE.—For 
the purposes of this section, in determining if trans-
actions are significant, the President may consider 
the totality of the facts and circumstances, including 
factors similar to the factors set forth in section 
561.404 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations (or 
any corresponding similar regulation or ruling). 
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