Sen. Collins introduces bill to continue sanctions against Chinese tech company

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is cosponsoring legislation to ensure that a Chinese technology company remains on a federal sanctions list.

Sen. Collins on July 15 introduced the Huawei Prohibition Act of 2019, S. 2117, with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) to keep Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List of sanctioned companies until the company is deemed to no longer pose a national security threat.

“Products manufactured by Huawei Technologies pose a serious national security threat,” Sen. Collins said. “This bipartisan bill would continue to prevent Huawei Technologies from doing business with U.S. companies until Congress receives concrete assurances that it is no longer a threat to U.S. infrastructure or engaged in intellectual property theft.”

If enacted, S. 2117 would keep the company on the list until certified to Congress that neither Huawei nor any senior officers of the company have engaged in actions violating sanctions imposed by the United States or the United Nations in the five-year period preceding the certification; Huawei has not engaged in theft of U.S. intellectual property during that same period; and does not pose an ongoing threat to U.S. telecommunications systems or critical infrastructure at home or abroad.

Sen. Collins and her colleagues also sent a July 17 letter to U.S. Senate leadership urging that the chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee include a similar provision in the final National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, H.R. 2500.

“It is imperative that Congress address known threats to the security of technology in the United States,” the senators wrote in their letter. “Huawei is one such threat. Therefore, Huawei must meet strict standards to assure it is no longer a national security threat before being removed from the entities list.”

The U.S. House of Representatives on July 12 approved H.R. 2500 and the measure is now under consideration by the U.S. Senate.