Addressing the Threat Posed by Applications and Other Software Developed or Controlled by Chinese Companies, 1249-1251 [2021-00305]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[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