Ensuring American Leadership over International Standards Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7139 To direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to commission a study on the impact of the activities of China on standards for emerging technologies. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 8, 2020 Mr. SCHWEIKERT (for himself and Mr. BERA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To direct the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to commission a study on the impact of the activities of China on standards for emerging technologies. 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 ‘‘Ensuring American 4 Leadership over International Standards Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7139.IH H7139 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7139 IH (1) Standards serve as the building blocks for 1 product development and help ensure functionality, 2 interoperability, and safety. 3 (2) Global cooperation and coordination on 4 standards for emerging technologies will be critical 5 for having a consistent set of rules to enable market 6 competition, preclude barriers to trade, and allow in- 7 novation to flourish. 8 (3) China’s ‘‘Standardization Reform Plan’’ 9 and ‘‘Five-Year Plan for Standardization’’ highlight 10 its high-level goals to establish China as a ‘‘stand- 11 ards power’’ by 2020, participate in at least half of 12 all standards drafting and revision efforts in recog- 13 nized international standards setting organizations, 14 and to strengthen China’s participation in the gov- 15 ernance of international standards setting organiza- 16 tions. 17 (4) As emerging technologies develop for global 18 deployment, it is critical that the United States and 19 its allies continue to shape standards that underpin 20 the technologies themselves, and the future inter- 21 national governance of these technologies. 22 (5) United States position on standardization in 23 emerging technologies will be critical to United 24 States economic competitiveness. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7139.IH H7139 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7139 IH (6) NIST is in a unique position to strengthen 1 United States leadership in standards development, 2 particularly for emerging technologies, to ensure 3 continuing United States economic competitiveness 4 and national security. 5 SEC. 3. EXTERNAL STUDY. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na- 8 tional Institute of Standards and Technology shall enter 9 into an agreement with the National Academies of 10 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study, 11 and make recommendations with respect to the impact of 12 Chinese government policies and standards development 13 on international bodies engaged in developing and setting 14 international standards for emerging technologies. The 15 study may include— 16 (1) an assessment of how China’s role in inter- 17 national standards setting organizations has grown 18 over the previous 10 years, including in leadership 19 roles in standards-drafting technical committees, and 20 the quality or value of that participation; 21 (2) an assessment of the impact of China’s 22 standardization strategy, as identified in the ‘‘Chi- 23 nese Standard 2035’’ on international bodies en- 24 gaged in developing and setting standards for select 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7139.IH H7139 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7139 IH emerging technologies, such as advanced commu- 1 nication technologies or cloud computing and cloud 2 services; 3 (3) an examination of whether international 4 standards for select emerging technologies are being 5 designed to promote Chinese government interests 6 that are expressed in the ‘‘Made in China 2025’’ 7 plan to the exclusion of other participants; 8 (4) an examination of how the previous prac- 9 tices China has utilized while participating in inter- 10 national standards setting organizations may foretell 11 how China will engage in international standardiza- 12 tion activities of critical technologies like artificial 13 intelligence and quantum information science, and 14 what may be the consequences; 15 (5) recommendations on how the United States 16 can take steps to mitigate Chinese influence in inter- 17 national standards-setting bodies and identify voting 18 strategies with respect to international consensus 19 standards for advanced wireless communications 20 technologies and other critical technologies; and 21 (6) any other areas the Academies believe is im- 22 portant to address. 23 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The agreement entered 24 into under subsection (a) shall require the National Acad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7139.IH H7139 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7139 IH emies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to, not later 1 than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act— 2 (1) submit to the Committee on Science, Space, 3 and Technology of the House of Representatives and 4 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans- 5 portation of the Senate a report containing the find- 6 ings and recommendations of the review conducted 7 under subsection (a); and 8 (2) make a copy of such report available on a 9 publicly accessible website. 10 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11 are authorized to be appropriated to the Director to carry 12 out this section $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2020. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Jun 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7139.IH H7139 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS