[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 1249-1251]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-00305]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 5 / Friday, January 8, 2021 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 1249]]
Executive Order 13971 of January 5, 2021
Addressing the Threat Posed by Applications and
Other Software Developed or Controlled by Chinese
Companies
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, including the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and
section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
America, find that additional steps must be taken to
deal with the national emergency with respect to the
information and communications technology and services
supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May
15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications
Technology and Services Supply Chain). Specifically,
the pace and pervasiveness of the spread in the United
States of certain connected mobile and desktop
applications and other software developed or controlled
by persons in the People's Republic of China, to
include Hong Kong and Macau (China), continue to
threaten the national security, foreign policy, and
economy of the United States. At this time, action must
be taken to address the threat posed by these Chinese
connected software applications.
By accessing personal electronic devices such as
smartphones, tablets, and computers, Chinese connected
software applications can access and capture vast
swaths of information from users, including sensitive
personally identifiable information and private
information. This data collection threatens to provide
the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with access to
Americans' personal and proprietary information--which
would permit China to track the locations of Federal
employees and contractors, and build dossiers of
personal information.
The continuing activity of the PRC and the CCP to steal
or otherwise obtain United States persons' data makes
clear that there is an intent to use bulk data
collection to advance China's economic and national
security agenda. For example, the 2014 cyber intrusions
of the Office of Personnel Management of security
clearance records of more than 21 million people were
orchestrated by Chinese agents. In 2015, a Chinese
hacking group breached the United States health
insurance company Anthem, affecting more than 78
million Americans. And the Department of Justice
indicted members of the Chinese military for the 2017
Equifax cyber intrusion that compromised the personal
information of almost half of all Americans.
In light of these risks, many executive departments and
agencies (agencies) have prohibited the use of Chinese
connected software applications and other dangerous
software on Federal Government computers and mobile
phones. These prohibitions, however, are not enough
given the nature of the threat from Chinese connected
software applications. In fact, the Government of India
has banned the use of more than 200 Chinese connected
software applications throughout the country; in a
statement, India's Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology asserted that the applications
were ``stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users'
data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have
locations outside India.''
The United States has assessed that a number of Chinese
connected software applications automatically capture
vast swaths of information from millions
[[Page 1250]]
of users in the United States, including sensitive
personally identifiable information and private
information, which would allow the PRC and CCP access
to Americans' personal and proprietary information.
The United States must take aggressive action against
those who develop or control Chinese connected software
applications to protect our national security.
Accordingly, I hereby order:
Section 1. (a) The following actions shall be
prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this
order, to the extent permitted under applicable law:
any transaction by any person, or with respect to any
property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States, with persons that develop or control the
following Chinese connected software applications, or
with their subsidiaries, as those transactions and
persons are identified by the Secretary of Commerce
(Secretary) under subsection (e) of this section:
Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ,
VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office.
(b) The Secretary is directed to continue to
evaluate Chinese connected software applications that
may pose an unacceptable risk to the national security,
foreign policy, or economy of the United States, and to
take appropriate action in accordance with Executive
Order 13873.
(c) Not later than 45 days after the date of this
order, the Secretary, in consultation with the Attorney
General and the Director of National Intelligence,
shall provide a report to the Assistant to the
President for National Security Affairs with
recommendations to prevent the sale or transfer of
United States user data to, or access of such data by,
foreign adversaries, including through the
establishment of regulations and policies to identify,
control, and license the export of such data.
(d) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this
section apply except to the extent provided by
statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or
licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and
notwithstanding any contract entered into or any
license or permit granted before the date of this
order.
(e) Not earlier than 45 days after the date of this
order, the Secretary shall identify the transactions
and persons that develop or control the Chinese
connected software applications subject to subsection
(a) of this section.
Sec. 2. (a) Any transaction by a United States person
or within the United States that evades or avoids, has
the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation
of, or attempts to violate the prohibition set forth in
this order is prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the
prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.
Sec. 3. For the purposes of this order:
(a) the term ``connected software application''
means software, a software program, or group of
software programs, designed to be used by an end user
on an end-point computing device and designed to
collect, process, or transmit data via the internet as
an integral part of its functionality.
(b) the term ``entity'' means a government or
instrumentality of such government, partnership,
association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group,
subgroup, or other organization, including an
international organization;
(c) the term ``person'' means an individual or
entity;
(d) the term ``personally identifiable
information'' (PII) is information that, when used
alone or with other relevant data, can identify an
individual. PII may contain direct identifiers (e.g.,
passport information) that can identify a person
uniquely, or quasi-identifiers (e.g., race) that can be
combined with other quasi-identifiers (e.g., date of
birth) to successfully recognize an individual.
(e) the term ``United States person'' means any
United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity
organized under the laws of the United
[[Page 1251]]
States or any jurisdiction within the United States
(including foreign branches), or any person in the
United States.
Sec. 4. (a) The Secretary, in consultation with the
Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General, is
hereby authorized to take such actions, including
adopting rules and regulations, and to employ all
powers granted to me by IEEPA, as may be necessary to
implement this order. All agencies shall take all
appropriate measures within their authority to
implement this order.
(b) The heads of agencies shall provide, in their
discretion and to the extent permitted by law, such
resources, information, and assistance to the
Department of Commerce as required to implement this
order, including the assignment of staff to the
Department of Commerce to perform the duties described
in this order.
Sec. 5. Severability. If any provision of this order,
or the application of any provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of
this order and the application of its other provisions
to any other persons or circumstances shall not be
affected thereby.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 5, 2021.
[FR Doc. 2021-00305
Filed 1-7-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P