Bill Would Require Reports on Hong Kong's Compliance With US Export Controls, Sanctions

A Senate bill introduced June 13 with bipartisan support would require the Trump administration to submit reports to Congress on whether Hong Kong is following U.S. export control laws and sanctions. The requirement, part of a bill that would amend the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992, would order the Treasury, State and Commerce secretaries to send several House and Senate committees a report on whether Hong Kong has enforced U.S. export controls with respect to “sensitive dual-use items” and abided by both U.S. and United Nations sanctions. The administration would need to submit the reports within 180 days after the enactment of the bill, which was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

The bill would order the Trump administration to identify any items in violation of U.S. export controls that were re-exported from Hong Kong, where those items were re-exported to and how they were used. The administration would also assess whether the items were “transshipped” through Hong Kong, used to develop “systems of mass surveillance” and whether China is using Hong Kong “as a separate customs territory to import items into China in violation” of U.S. export control laws, the bill said.

The administration would also determine whether Hong Kong has “adequately” enforced U.S. and UN sanctions, and identify any goods or services “transshipped or re[-]exported through Hong Kong in violation of such sanctions.” The bill specifically mentions sanctions on North Korea, Iran and “other countries, regimes, or persons subject to such sanctions … relating to international terrorism, international narcotics trafficking, or the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”