A bill that mandates economic penalties on firms and individuals involved in stealing American intellectual property has been included in the Senate Banking Committee’s Meeting the China Challenge Act of 2021.
The committee will also look to include this bill, the Protecting American Intellectual Property Act, in the China competition bill, the Endless Frontier Act, scheduled for a vote by the Senate soon.
“We know foreign companies around the world, and especially many in China, are working overtime to steal U.S. technology – damaging our economy, harming U.S. job creation, and threatening our national security in the process. To deter these bad actors, we must draw a line in the sand and put forward clear consequences for their actions – our bill does just that. I’m glad to see the Banking Committee include our legislation within this must-pass package to improve our competitive edge against China, and I’ll continue working to see it through,” U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a sponsor of this bill.
Van Hollen is a cosponsor of the bill along with U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE).
“Chairman Xi and the Chinese Communist Party are going to keep trying to steal American IP. They’re trying to hack their way to global dominance by stealing American ingenuity. We’ve drafted smart, bipartisan policy to use our economic tools to help fight back,” Sasse said.
The Protecting American Intellectual Property Act requires a report to Congress within six months, and annually thereafter, identifying any individual or firm that has engaged in the significant theft of U.S. trade secrets, as well as the chief executive officers and board members of those identified firms.
Any firm identified in the report will face at least five sanctions from a comprehensive menu consistent with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The menu includes property blocking sanctions, export prohibitions, the prohibition of loans from U.S. and international financial institutions, procurement sanctions, and prohibition of banking transactions.
For any individual identified in the report, the President must impose property blocking sanctions and prohibit the individual’s entry into the United States.