Title: UIGHUR Protection Act of 2019
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Uighur Intervention and Global Humanitarian Unified Response and Protection Act of 2019 or the UIGHUR Protection Act of 2019
This bill directs the President to impose sanctions and export restrictions related to China's treatment of the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim Turkic ethnic group.
The President shall identify items that provide China with a critical capability to suppress basic human rights, including items that provide capability to (1) conduct surveillance, (2) monitor and restrict an individual's movement, (3) monitor and restrict access to the internet, and (4) identify individuals through facial or voice recognition. The President shall (1) place such items on the Commerce Control List (a list of items subject to export controls); and (2) require authorization for the export, reexport, or transfer of such items to or within China.
The bill terminates certain prohibitions, such as a prohibition against obligating funds for U.S. Trade and Development Agency activities in China, upon a report by the President to Congress that China has taken specified actions, including ending the mass internment of Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2972 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2972

 To restrict the export, reexport, and in-country transfers of certain 
   items that provide a critical capability to the Government of the 
People's Republic of China to suppress individual privacy, freedom, and 
                       other basic human rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 4, 2019

Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Warner) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To restrict the export, reexport, and in-country transfers of certain 
   items that provide a critical capability to the Government of the 
People's Republic of China to suppress individual privacy, freedom, and 
                       other basic human rights.

    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 ``Uighur Intervention and Global 
Humanitarian Unified Response and Protection Act of 2019'' or the 
``UIGHUR Protection Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. RESTRICTIONS ON EXPORT, REEXPORT, AND IN-COUNTRY TRANSFERS OF 
              CERTAIN ITEMS THAT PROVIDE A CRITICAL CAPABILITY TO THE 
              GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO SUPPRESS 
              INDIVIDUAL PRIVACY, FREEDOM, AND OTHER BASIC HUMAN 
              RIGHTS.

    (a) Statement of Policy.--It is the policy of the United States to 
protect the basic human rights of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities 
in the People's Republic of China.
    (b) List of Covered Items.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, and as appropriate thereafter, the 
        President--
                    (A) shall identify those items that provide a 
                critical capability to the Government of the People's 
                Republic of China, or any person acting on behalf of 
                such Government, to suppress individual privacy, 
                freedom of movement, and other basic human rights, 
                specifically through--
                            (i) surveillance, interception, and 
                        restriction of communications;
                            (ii) monitoring of individual location or 
                        movement or restricting individual movement;
                            (iii) monitoring or restricting access to 
                        and use of the internet;
                            (iv) monitoring or restricting use of 
                        social media;
                            (v) identification of individuals through 
                        facial recognition, voice recognition, or 
                        biometric indicators;
                            (vi) detention of individuals who are 
                        exercising basic human rights; and
                            (vii) forced labor in manufacturing; and
                    (B) shall, pursuant to the Export Control Reform 
                Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.), include items 
                identified pursuant to subparagraph (A) on the Commerce 
                Control List in a category separate from other items, 
                as appropriate, on the Commerce Control List.
            (2) Support and cooperation.--Upon request, the head of a 
        Federal agency shall provide full support and cooperation to 
        the President in carrying out this subsection.
            (3) Consultation.--In carrying out this subsection, the 
        President shall consult with the relevant technical advisory 
        committees of the Department of Commerce to ensure that the 
        composition of items identified under paragraph (1)(A) and 
        included on the Commerce Control List under paragraph (1)(B) 
        does not unnecessarily restrict commerce between the United 
        States and the People's Republic of China, consistent with the 
        purposes of this section.
    (c) Special License or Other Authorization.--
            (1) In general.--Beginning not later than 180 days after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall, 
        pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 
        4801 et seq.), require a license or other authorization for the 
        export, reexport, or in-country transfer to or within the 
        People's Republic of China of an item identified pursuant to 
        subsection (b)(1)(A) and included on the Commerce Control List 
        pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(B).
            (2) Presumption of denial.--An application for a license or 
        other authorization described in paragraph (1) shall be subject 
        to a presumption of denial.
            (3) Public notice and comment.--The President shall provide 
        for notice and public comment with respect actions necessary to 
        carry out this subsection.
    (d) International Coordination and Multilateral Controls.--It shall 
be the policy of the United States to seek to harmonize United States 
export control regulations with international export control regimes 
with respect to the items identified pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A), 
including through the Wassenaar Arrangement and other bilateral and 
multilateral mechanisms involving countries that export such items.
    (e) Termination of Suspension of Certain Other Programs and 
Activities.--Section 902(b)(1) of the Foreign Relations Authorization 
Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (Public Law 101-246; 22 U.S.C. 2151 
note) is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting 
        ``and China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region'' after 
        ``Tibet'';
            (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (3) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``or'' after the 
        semicolon and inserting ``and''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(F) the ending of the mass internment of ethnic 
                Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in the Xinjiang Uighur 
                Autonomous Region, including the intrusive system of 
                high-tech surveillance and policing in the region; 
                or''.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Commerce control list.--The term ``Commerce Control 
        List'' means the list set forth in Supplement No. 1 to part 774 
        of the Export Administration Regulations under subchapter C of 
        chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations.
            (2) Export, in-country transfer, item, and reexport.--The 
        terms ``export'', ``in-country transfer'', ``item'', and 
        ``reexport'' have the meanings given such terms in section 1742 
        of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801).
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