Federal

Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

Source: Congress.gov · 954 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to create and publish a public list of companies that hold FCC licenses or authorizations and are owned or controlled by foreign governments or foreign companies from certain countries. The FCC must update this list at least once per year.

Who It Affects

The FCC (a federal agency that regulates communications), companies that hold FCC licenses or other authorizations from the FCC, and the public who can view the list online.

Key Provisions

• The FCC must publish a list on its website within 120 days showing all companies that hold certain FCC licenses and have foreign ownership or control from designated countries (Sec. 2(a)). • A company goes on the list if a covered foreign entity holds a voting or ownership stake that the FCC's rules require to be reported, or if a national security agency determines a foreign entity controls the company (Sec. 2(a)(2)). • Within 18 months, the FCC must create rules to find other companies that hold FCC authorizations and have foreign ownership interests that must be reported (Sec. 2(b)(1)). • Within one year after creating those rules, the FCC must add those companies to the public list (Sec. 2(b)(2)). • The FCC must update the list at least once per year (Sec. 2(d)).

What Changes

The public will be able to see which companies that hold FCC licenses have foreign ownership or control from certain countries. This information will be available online for anyone to view.

Important Definitions

• Covered country: A country listed in a specific section of federal law about defense (Sec. 2(e)(3)). • Covered entity: A foreign government from a covered country, any company organized under laws of a covered country, or a subsidiary or affiliate of such a company (Sec. 2(e)(4)).

II Calendar No. 511 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 820 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 10, 2024 Received SEPTEMBER 12, 2024 Read the first time SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 Read the second time and placed on the calendar AN ACT To direct the Federal Communications Commission to pub- lish a list of entities that hold authorizations, licenses, or other grants of authority issued by the Commission and that have certain foreign ownership, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Adversary 4 Communications Transparency Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H820.PCS H820 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 HR 820 PCS SEC. 2. LIST OF ENTITIES HOLDING FCC AUTHORIZATIONS, 1 LICENSES, OR OTHER GRANTS OF AUTHOR- 2 ITY AND HAVING CERTAIN FOREIGN OWNER- 3 SHIP. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the 5 date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 6 publish on the internet website of the Commission a list 7 of each entity— 8 (1) that holds a license issued by the Commis- 9 sion pursuant to— 10 (A) section 309(j) of the Communications 11 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)); or 12 (B) the Act of May 27, 1921 (47 U.S.C. 13 34 et seq.; commonly known as the ‘‘Cable 14 Landing Licensing Act’’) and Executive Order 15 10530 (3 U.S.C. 301 note; relating to the per- 16 formance of certain functions vested in or sub- 17 ject to the approval of the President); and 18 (2) with respect to which— 19 (A) a covered entity holds an equity or vot- 20 ing interest that is required to be reported to 21 the Commission under the ownership rules of 22 the Commission; or 23 (B) an appropriate national security agen- 24 cy has determined that a covered entity exerts 25 control, regardless of whether such covered enti- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H820.PCS H820 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 HR 820 PCS ty holds an equity or voting interest as de- 1 scribed in subparagraph (A). 2 (b) RULEMAKING.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 18 months 4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 5 Commission shall issue rules to obtain information 6 to identify each entity— 7 (A) that holds any authorization, license, 8 or other grant of authority issued by the Com- 9 mission (other than a license described in sub- 10 section (a)(1)); and 11 (B) with respect to which a covered entity 12 holds an equity or voting interest that is re- 13 quired to be reported to the Commission under 14 the ownership rules of the Commission. 15 (2) PLACEMENT ON LIST.—Not later than 1 16 year after the Commission issues the rules required 17 by paragraph (1), the Commission shall place each 18 entity described in such paragraph on the list pub- 19 lished under subsection (a). 20 (c) PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT EXEMPTION.—A 21 collection of information conducted or sponsored by the 22 Commission to implement this section does not constitute 23 a collection of information for the purposes of subchapter 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H820.PCS H820 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4 HR 820 PCS I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 1 referred to as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’). 2 (d) ANNUAL UPDATES.—The Commission shall, not 3 less frequently than annually, update the list published 4 under subsection (a), including with respect to any entity 5 required to be placed on such list by subsection (b)(2). 6 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 (1) APPROPRIATE NATIONAL SECURITY AGEN- 8 CY.—The term ‘‘appropriate national security agen- 9 cy’’ has the meaning given such term in section 9 10 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Net- 11 works Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608). 12 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 13 means the Federal Communications Commission. 14 (3) COVERED COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘covered 15 country’’ means a country specified in section 16 4872(d)(2) of title 10, United States Code. 17 (4) COVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘covered en- 18 tity’’ means— 19 (A) the government of a covered country; 20 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 21 a covered country; and 22 (C) a subsidiary or affiliate of an entity 23 described in subparagraph (B), regardless of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H820.PCS H820 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 HR 820 PCS whether the subsidiary or affiliate is organized 1 under the laws of a covered country. 2 Passed the House of Representatives September 9, 2024. Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H820.PCS H820 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS Calendar No. 511 118TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 820 AN ACT To direct the Federal Communications Commission to publish a list of entities that hold authoriza- tions, licenses, or other grants of authority issued by the Commission and that have certain foreign ownership, and for other purposes. SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 Read the second time and placed on the calendar VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Sep 17, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H820.PCS H820 ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS

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