North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014

Bill: 113-hr-1771
Sponsor: Rep. Royce, Edward R. [R-CA-39]
Introduced: 2013-04-26 in the House
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Arms control and nonproliferation
Asia
Bank accounts, deposits, capital
Business ethics
Business records
Computers and information technology
Congressional oversight
Corporate finance and management
Correctional facilities and imprisonment
Crimes against property
Currency
Detention of persons
Employee benefits and pensions
Financial services and investments
Foreign aid and international relief
Foreign and international banking
Foreign and international corporations
Foreign property
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Government ethics and transparency, public corruption
Government information and archives
Government liability
Government studies and investigations
Government trust funds
Human rights
Immigration status and procedures
Intelligence activities, surveillance, classified information
International organizations and cooperation
Judicial procedure and administration
Licensing and registrations
Military assistance, sales, and agreements
Motor carriers
Multilateral development programs
News media and reporting
North Korea
Nuclear weapons
Public contracts and procurement
Rule of law and government transparency
Sanctions
Securities
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Smuggling and trafficking
State and local finance
Technology transfer and commercialization
Terrorism
Trade restrictions
U.S. and foreign investments
United Nations
Visas and passports
War crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity

Summary:
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: 
North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2013 - Directs the President to investigate credible information of sanctionable activities involving North Korea and to designate and apply sanctions with respect to any person (referred to as a &quot;designated person&quot; and includes business entities, nongovernmental organizations, and governmental entities operating as business enterprises) the President determines is knowingly:
 
 
contributing, through the export to or import from North Korea of any goods or technology, to the use, development, production, stockpiling, or acquisition of nuclear, radiological, chemical, or biological weapons, or any device or system designed to deliver such weapons;
 
exporting, or facilitating the export of, defense articles and services to North Korea, or from North Korea to any other country;
 
exporting, or facilitating the export of, any luxury goods to North Korea;
 
providing, selling, leasing, registering, or reflagging a vessel, aircraft, or other conveyance, or providing insurance or any other shipping or transportation service used to transport goods to or from North Korea, for purposes of facilitating a specified unlawful activity or evading a regulation established under this Act or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA);
 
transferring, paying, exporting, withdrawing, or otherwise dealing with any property or interest in property of the government of North Korea for purposes of facilitating such unlawful activity or evading such regulations;
 
engaging in or facilitating censorship by North Korea; or
 
committing or facilitating a serious human rights abuse by North Korea.
 
 
Directs the President to designate and exercise IEEPA authorities with respect to the government of North Korea as well as any person or foreign government the President determines has been:
 
 
listed or sanctioned under any regulation, specified executive order, or the IEEPA for illicit activities or activities concerning North Korea's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
 
sanctioned under U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning North Korea's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; or
 
convicted of a criminal offense for engaging in sanctionable activities.
 
 
Authorizes the President to exercise IEEPA authorities with respect to any foreign government or financial institution the President determines to be:
 
 
engaging in sanctionable activities involving North Korea;
 
failing to freeze funds, assets, or economic resources of a person designated pursuant to the requirements above or that could be used to facilitate sanctionable activities relating to imports or exports;
 
failing to monitor import and export transactions appropriately;
 
permitting any North Korean financial institution to open any new branches, offices, or joint ventures within its jurisdiction, or to take an ownership interest in, or establish or maintain a correspondent relationship with any bank in its jurisdiction, if it could be used to facilitate sanctionable import or export activities;
 
failing to prohibit transfers of bulk cash to and from North Korea in facilitation of sanctionable import or export activities;
 
providing public financial support for trade with North Korea to facilitate such import or export activities; or
 
facilitating the use of any proceeds of the bribery of North Korean government officials, or the misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement of public funds by, or for the benefit of, such officials.
 
 
Sets forth civil and criminal penalties under the IEEPA. 
 
Establishes the North Korea Enforcement and Humanitarian Fund in which assets subject to criminal, civil, or administrative forfeiture or penalties are to be deposited for the enforcement of this Act and to carry out humanitarian activities under the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004.
 
Expresses the sense of Congress that the government of North Korea should be treated as a primary money laundering concern that may be required to undertake special measures with respect to the recordkeeping and reporting of certain financial transactions as well as the identification of customers or retention of information relating to certain beneficial ownership, payable-through, or correspondent accounts. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to require domestic financial institutions to apply special measures to certain designated entities.
 
Directs domestic financial institutions to terminate various accounts maintained for persons, foreign governments, or financial institutions required to be designated as engaging in sanctionable activity under this Act and for foreign financial institutions providing services to such designated entities.
 
Prohibits a designated person that is a domestic financial institution from serving as a primary dealer in U.S. debt instruments or as a repository for U.S. funds. 
 
Sets forth authority for the President to prohibit certain foreign exchange and banking transactions, revoke transaction licenses, and direct the Secretary of State to deny visas to designated aliens. 
 
Permits the President to impose sanctions against persons providing specialized financial messaging services to designated North Korean financial institutions. 
 
Requires a validated license for exports to North Korea under the Export Administration Act of 1979. Prohibits munitions and defense articles from being provided to North Korea under the Arms Export Control Act regardless of whether it is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. 
 
Bars U.S. government contracts from being provided to designated persons. 
 
Authorizes the seizure or forfeiture of vessels or aircraft used to facilitate sanctionable activities. 
 
Directs the President to withhold assistance to the governments of countries providing defense articles or services to North Korea or receiving such articles or services from North Korea. 
 
Sets forth exceptions to designations under this Act and authorizes the President to waive designations and sanctions, for a period of up to one year, upon the President's submission to Congress of a determination that the waiver:
 
 
protects vital U.S. economic and national security interests,
 
benefits entities cooperating with investigations, and
 
addresses humanitarian aid considerations while meeting other specified standards. Permits the President to temporarily suspend sanctions with a certification to Congress under specified circumstances and to prescribe rules for removing sanctions. 
 
 
Directs issuers of financial securities regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose activities relating to North Korea in annual and quarterly reports. 
 
Authorizes state and local governments to divest assets and prohibit investments in companies that invest in North Korea.
 
Exempts North Korea from the jurisdictional immunity of foreign states, thereby enabling plaintiffs to seek certain damages against North Korea regardless of whether it is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism.

action_date: 2014-07-28
text: 
North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014 - 
Title I: Investigations, Prohibited Conduct, and Penalties
 - (Sec. 102) Directs the President, upon receipt of credible information about sanctionable activities involving the government of North Korea, to investigate the possible designation for sanctions of any person knowingly engaged in certain transactions with that government (including an individual, a corporation, business association, partnership, society, trust, financial institution, insurer, underwriter, guarantor, and any other business organization, any other nongovernmental entity, organization, or group, and any governmental entity operating as a business enterprise).
 
(Sec. 103) Requires the President to brief appropriate congressional committees, within 180 days after enactment of this Act, on efforts to implement it.
 
(Sec. 104) Directs the President to designate for sanctions any person that has knowingly:
 
 
engaged in significant activities or transactions with North Korea that have materially contributed to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or missiles and other means of delivery of WMD, including any efforts to manufacture, acquire, possess, develop, transport, transfer, or use such items;
 
imported, exported, or reexported to, into, or from North Korea any arms or related materiel, whether directly or indirectly;
 
provided significant training, advice, or other services or assistance, or engaged in transactions, related to the manufacture, maintenance, or use of any arms or related materiel to be imported, exported, or reexported to, into, or from North Korea, whether directly or indirectly;
 
imported, exported, or reexported, directly or indirectly, significant luxury goods to or into North Korea;\
 
engaged in or been responsible for censorship or serious human rights abuses by North Korea;
 
engaged in significant acts of money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods or currency, bulk cash smuggling, narcotics trafficking, or other illicit activity that involves or supports North Korea; or
 
attempted to engage in any of these activities.
 
 
Requires the President to apply sanctions under this Act and exercise the authorities of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to block all property and interests in property of any person designated under this Act that are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of any U.S. person, including any overseas branch.
 
Sets forth civil and criminal penalties under IEEPA.
 
Authorizes the President to designate and apply sanctions to any person that has knowingly engaged in, contributed to, or otherwise supported specified financial or related activities relating to any violation of, or evasion of, an applicable United Nations (U.N.) Security Council resolution, particularly one dealing with North Korea.
 
Directs the President to exercise IEEPA authorities to block all property and interests in property of the government of North Korea that are in the United States, come within the United States, or are or come within the possession or control of any U.S. person, including any overseas branch.
 
(Sec. 105) Subjects to forfeiture to the United States any property, real or personal, involved in an actual or attempted violation of this Act, or which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to a violation, of it.
 

Title II: Sanctions Against North Korean Proliferation, Human Rights Abuses, and Illicit Activities
 - (Sec. 201) Declares the sense of Congress regarding designation of North Korea as a jurisdiction of primary money laundering concern.
 
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to: (1) determine whether reasonable grounds exist for concluding that North Korea is such a jurisdiction, and, if so, (2) impose one or more special measures with respect to it.
 
(Sec. 202) Expresses the sense of Congress that the President should intensify diplomatic efforts, both in international fora such as the U.N. and bilaterally, to develop and implement a coordinated, consistent, multilateral strategy for protecting the global financial system against risks emanating from North Korea.
 
(Sec. 203) Requires a license for export to North Korea of any goods or technology subject to the Export Administration Regulations without regard to whether North Korea has been designated a country whose government has supported acts of international terrorism. Subjects any license, however, to a presumption of denial.
 
Applies certain prohibitions and restrictions of the Arms Export Control Act to exporting or otherwise providing, directly or indirectly, any munitions item to North Korea without regard to whether or not it is designated a state sponsor of terrorism. 
 
Directs the President to withhold assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to the governments of countries providing lethal military equipment to, or receiving it from, North Korea. Allows a waiver of this prohibition in the U.S. national interest.
 
(Sec. 204) Prohibits the federal government from procuring, or contracting to procure, any goods or services from a designated person.
 
Requires revision of the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require each prospective contractor to certify that it does not engage in any activity sanctionable under this Act. Requires termination of any contract with a person making a false certification, unless there are urgent and compelling circumstances significantly affecting U.S. interests. Requires agency heads to initiate a suspension and debarment proceeding against any person making such a false certification.
 
Declares, however, that the remedies of contract termination and suspension and debarment shall not apply with respect to federal procurement of the eligible products of certain foreign countries or instrumentalities under the Trade Agreements Act of 1979.
 
(Sec. 205) Directs the President, acting through the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), to report to specified congressional committees on foreign seaports and airports whose inspections of ships, aircraft, and conveyances originating in North Korea, carrying North Korean property, or operated by the North Korean government are deficient to effectively prevent the facilitation of any of the activities sanctionable under this Act.
 
Directs DHS, using the Automated Targeting System operated by the National Targeting Center in U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to require enhanced screening procedures to determine if physical inspections are warranted of any cargo bound for or landed in the United States that has been transported through such a seaport or airport if there are reasonable grounds to believe that such cargo contains goods prohibited under this Act.
 
Authorizes seizure and forfeiture of any vessel, aircraft, or conveyance used to facilitate any sanctionable activities that comes within U.S. jurisdiction.
 
(Sec. 206) Declares any alien (or any alien who is a corporate officer of a designated person) who the Secretary of State or the DHS Secretary knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe, is described in section 104 of this Act to be: (1) inadmissible to the United States, (2) ineligible to receive a visa or other documentation to enter the United States, and (3) otherwise ineligible to be admitted or paroled into the United States or to receive any other benefit under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
 
Requires revocation of any visa or other entry documentation already issued to such an alien.
 
Exempts from these requirements any alien who must be admitted to comply with the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations.
 
(Sec. 207) Exempts from sanctions under this Act: (1) any authorized intelligence activities of the United States, and (2) any transaction necessary to comply with U.S. obligations under the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations or the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
 
Allows discretionary exemptions from sanctions for transactions, financial or otherwise, involving humanitarian aid and imports into North Korea of non-luxury food products, agricultural products, medicine, or medical devices designated "EAR 99" under the Export Administration Regulations.
 
Authorizes the President to waive sanctions, on a case-by-case basis, for a year or more in specified circumstances. Requires the President to prescribe rules and regulations for the removal of sanctions and designations.
 
(Sec. 208) Declares the sense of Congress that the United States should work to increase the capacity of responsible nations to implement U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, 1874, 2087, and 2094, particularly to strengthen their capacity to monitor and interdict shipments to and from North Korea that contribute to prohibited activities under those Resolutions.
 

Title III: Promotion of Human Rights - 
(Sec. 301) Amends the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 to direct the President to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a classified report setting forth a detailed plan for making unrestricted, unmonitored, and inexpensive electronic mass communications available to the people of North Korea.
 
(Sec. 302) Directs the Secretary of State to report to the appropriate congressional committees specified information on: (1) each political prison camp in North Korea, and (2) each person responsible for serious human rights abuses or censorship in North Korea.
 

Title IV: General Authorities
 - (Sec. 401) Allows suspension for up to 365 days of any sanction or other measure under this Act upon presidential certification to Congress that the government of North Korea has taken specified significant steps with respect to:
 
 
counterfeiting of U.S. currency,
 
financial transparency,
 
compliance with specified U.N. Resolutions,
 
repatriation of citizens of other countries,
 
distribution and monitoring of humanitarian aid,
 
cessation of support for acts of international terrorism,
 
improvement of living conditions in political prison camps, and
 
planning for family reunification meetings.
 
 
(Sec. 402) Specifies grounds for termination of sanctions or other measures under this Act.
 
(Sec. 405) Amends the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 to reduce the annual authorization of appropriations for assistance to Pakistan from $1.5 billion to $1.49 billion.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-07-29
text: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H6877-6883)
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H6877-6883)
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 1771.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H6877-6886)
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Mr. Royce moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 420.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on Oversight and Government discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on Oversight and Government discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on Financial Services discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on Financial Services discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on the Judiciary discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on the Judiciary discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on Ways and Means discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Committee on Ways and Means discharged.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. H. Rept. 113-560, Part I.
action_date: 2014-07-28
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Foreign Affairs. H. Rept. 113-560, Part I.
action_date: 2014-05-29
text: Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2014-05-29
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2013-06-14
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.
action_date: 2013-06-03
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Financial Services, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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.
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Financial Services, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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.
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Financial Services, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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.
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Financial Services, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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.
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, the Judiciary, Financial Services, and Oversight and Government Reform, 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.
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2013-04-26
text: Introduced in House