SPEECH Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1846 To require a review and controls on the export of items with critical capabilities to enable human rights abuses. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 26, 2021 Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. CASEY, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. RUBIO) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To require a review and controls on the export of items with critical capabilities to enable human rights abuses. 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 ‘‘Surveillance and free 4 speech Protection Enhancement in Export controls for 5 Censorship and Human rights Act of 2021’’ or the 6 ‘‘SPEECH Act of 2021’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1846.IS S1846 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1846 IS SEC. 2. REVIEW AND CONTROLS ON EXPORT OF ITEMS 1 WITH CRITICAL CAPABILITIES TO ENABLE 2 HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES. 3 (a) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 4 United States to use export controls to the extent nec- 5 essary to further the protection of internationally recog- 6 nized human rights. 7 (b) REVIEW OF ITEMS WITH CRITICAL CAPABILITIES 8 TO ENABLE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES.—Not later than 9 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 10 as appropriate thereafter, the Secretary, in coordination 11 with the Secretary of State, the Director of National Intel- 12 ligence, and the heads of other Federal agencies as appro- 13 priate, shall conduct a review of items subject to controls 14 for crime control reasons pursuant to section 742.7 of the 15 Export Administration Regulations. 16 (c) CONTROLS.—In furtherance of the policy set forth 17 in subsection (a), not later than 60 days after completing 18 the review required by subsection (b), the Secretary, in 19 coordination with the heads of other Federal agencies as 20 appropriate, shall determine whether additional export 21 controls are needed to protect human rights, including 22 whether— 23 (1) controls for crime control reasons pursuant 24 to section 742.7 of the Export Administration Regu- 25 lations should be imposed on additional items, in- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1846.IS S1846 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1846 IS cluding items with critical capabilities to enable 1 human rights abuses involving— 2 (A) censorship or social control; 3 (B) surveillance, interception, or restriction 4 of communications; 5 (C) monitoring or restricting access to or 6 use of the internet; 7 (D) identification of individuals through 8 facial or voice recognition or biometric indica- 9 tors; or 10 (E) DNA sequencing; or 11 (2) end-use and end-user controls should be im- 12 posed on the export, reexport, or in-country transfer 13 of certain items with critical capabilities to enable 14 human rights abuses that are subject to the Export 15 Administration Regulations if the person seeking to 16 export, reexport, or transfer the item has knowledge, 17 or the Secretary determines and so informs that per- 18 son, that the end-user or ultimate consignee will use 19 the item to enable human rights abuses. 20 (d) COOPERATION OF OTHER AGENCIES.—Upon re- 21 quest from the Secretary, the head of a Federal agency 22 shall provide full support and cooperation to the Secretary 23 in carrying out this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1846.IS S1846 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1846 IS (e) INTERNATIONAL COORDINATION ON CONTROLS 1 TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS.—It shall be the policy of 2 the United States to seek to secure the cooperation of 3 other governments to impose export controls that are con- 4 sistent, to the extent possible, with the controls imposed 5 under this section. 6 (f) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1752(2)(A) 7 of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 8 4811(2)(A)) is amended— 9 (1) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and insert- 10 ing a semicolon; 11 (2) in clause (v), by striking the period and in- 12 serting ‘‘; or’’; and 13 (3) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(vi) serious human rights abuses.’’. 15 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 (1) END-USER; KNOWLEDGE; ULTIMATE CON- 17 SIGNEE.—The terms ‘‘end-user’’, ‘‘knowledge’’, and 18 ‘‘ultimate consignee’’ have the meanings given those 19 terms in section 772.1 of the Export Administration 20 Regulations. 21 (2) EXPORT; EXPORT ADMINISTRATION REGU- 22 LATIONS; IN-COUNTRY TRANSFER; ITEM; REEX- 23 PORT.—The terms ‘‘export’’, ‘‘Export Administra- 24 tion Regulations’’, ‘‘in-country transfer’’, ‘‘item’’, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1846.IS S1846 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1846 IS and ‘‘reexport’’ have the meanings given those terms 1 in section 1742 of the Export Control Reform Act 2 of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801). 3 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 4 the Secretary of Commerce. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1846.IS S1846 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS