# The NETWORKS Act: What It Does

This bill gives the President power to punish foreign telecommunications companies that steal American business secrets or engage in spying. Specifically, it targets companies that make fifth-generation (5G) and next-generation wireless technology and have stolen trade secrets or proprietary information from American companies. When the President determines a company has done this, the government can freeze any money or property that company has in the United States and block them from doing business here.

The practical effect is that foreign telecom companies engaged in industrial espionage would lose access to the U.S. market and have their American assets seized. This is meant to protect American technology companies from having their innovations stolen by foreign competitors, particularly those backed by governments the U.S. views as hostile. The bill specifically mentions concerns about companies receiving direction from authoritarian governments or surveillance states—the acronym "NETWORKS" stands for "Neutralizing Emerging Threats from Wireless OEMs Receiving direction from Kleptocracies and Surveillance states."

There are a few important limits built in. The President can waive these sanctions for up to 90 days at a time if national security requires it, and the sanctions don't apply to actual U.S. intelligence operations. Also, the bill doesn't allow the government to ban the import of physical goods—it only targets financial transactions and property. Companies that participate in international standards-setting for wireless technology also aren't affected, and existing 3G and 4G networks are excluded from the scope of this law.

NETWORKS Act

Gallagher, Mike

Neutralizing Emerging Threats from Wireless OEMs Receiving direction from Kleptocracies and Surveillance states Act or the NETWORKS Act This bill requires the President to block and prohibit significant transactions and interests in property of a foreign individual or entity that&nbsp;(1) produces fifth- or future-generation telecommunications technology; and (2) engages in economic or industrial espionage, or other related illicit activities, involving trade secrets or proprietary information owned by a U.S. individual or entity.