Undersea Cable Control Act
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Would require the President and the Department of Commerce to develop a strategy for cutting off foreign adversaries — such as China — from the goods and technologies used to build, maintain, or operate undersea cable networks that carry the vast majority of global internet traffic.
The bill would also direct Commerce to evaluate whether those items need tighter export controls and require the President to seek allied agreements to enforce unified restrictions, aiming to reduce foreign adversary influence over critical undersea communications infrastructure.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would require the President, acting through the Secretary of Commerce and in coordination with the Secretary of State, to develop a comprehensive strategy to eliminate foreign adversaries' access to items required for undersea cable construction, maintenance, and operation. The strategy would identify the relevant items, map U.S. and allied export control policies, assess which allies hold significant global market share for those items, and describe efforts to promote U.S. leadership at international standards-setting bodies for undersea cable technologies. The President would submit the strategy to Congress within 180 days of enactment and annually for three more years, in unclassified form, with a publicly available version posted online.
Separately, the bill would direct the Secretary of Commerce to evaluate whether the identified items should be added to the Commerce Control List under the Export Administration Regulations, and to report the results annually to Congress. The President would also be required to seek bilateral or multilateral agreements with key allies — including penalty provisions for noncompliance — within one year of enactment, and to brief Congress on those negotiations every 180 days until concluded.
Key provisions
- 1Would require the President, through Commerce and State, to develop a strategy identifying items needed for undersea cables and measures to deny those items to foreign adversaries.
- 2Would require the President to submit the strategy to Congress within 180 days of enactment, in unclassified form, and annually for three years, with public online posting.
- 3Would require the President to seek bilateral or multilateral agreements with allies — including noncompliance penalties — to block foreign adversaries from obtaining undersea cable items, within one year of enactment.
- 4Would direct the Secretary of Commerce to evaluate whether identified undersea cable items should receive new or enhanced export controls under the Export Administration Regulations, including potential addition to the Commerce Control List.
- 5Would require annual notifications to Congress describing which items were evaluated for export controls and the rationale for adding or not adding each item to the Commerce Control List.
Who would be affected
Federal agencies — primarily the Department of Commerce and the State Department — that would bear new strategy-development, reporting, and negotiation responsibilities. U.S. companies that manufacture, export, or transfer undersea cable equipment and technology could face new or expanded Commerce Control List licensing requirements. Allied governments would be sought as partners in coordinated export controls and bilateral agreements.
Why it matters
Undersea cables carry roughly 95 percent of international internet and communications traffic. If foreign adversaries gain access to the technologies needed to build or operate those systems, they could introduce security vulnerabilities or supply-chain dependencies. This bill would compel the executive branch to take concrete, time-bound steps — export controls, allied agreements, and regular congressional reporting — toward reducing that risk.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Creates Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4811) (Sec. 2(a))
Creates a new strategy and export-control evaluation requirement consistent with the Act's policy statement, without amending the Act's text.
Creates Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1607(c)) (Sec. 2(f)(2))
Incorporates this Act's definition of 'foreign adversary' by reference to apply it to a new undersea cable control framework.
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- Initial strategy report to Congress due
- President must seek bilateral or multilateral agreements with allies
- Congressional briefings on agreement negotiations must begin
- First Commerce notification to Congress on export control actions
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates H.R. 2503 would cost less than $500,000 over the 2025–2030 period, with no effect on direct spending, revenues, or the deficit.
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2503 — which would require the Department of Commerce to report to Congress on its strategy to prevent foreign adversaries from acquiring undersea cable capabilities and to study potential export controls on related equipment — would cost less than $500,000 over the 2025–2030 period. That spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds (discretionary spending approved by Congress each year) and is not estimated beyond 2030. The bill would have no effect on direct (mandatory) spending or federal revenues, and CBO found no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates in the bill.
How implementation would work
The President, through the Secretary of Commerce in coordination with the Secretary of State, would develop the strategy and submit it to Congress within 180 days, then annually for three years. Commerce would simultaneously evaluate each identified item for potential addition to the Commerce Control List, coordinating with the Departments of Defense and State, and report those results to Congress within one year and annually thereafter. The President would seek allied bilateral or multilateral agreements within one year, with noncompliance penalties included. Congressional briefings on those negotiations would begin 30 days after the first report and recur every 180 days. Reports must be posted publicly on a federal website.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Official CRS summary
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This bill requires the President and the Department of Commerce to take certain actions to prevent foreign adversaries from acquiring items needed to support the construction, maintenance, or operation of undersea cable projects. For the purposes of this bill, a foreign adversary is any foreign government or nongovernment person (entity or individual) engaged in certain conduct that significantly and adversely affects U.S. national security.
Within one year of the bill's enactment, the President must seek to enter into agreements with allies and partners to prevent such items from being available to foreign adversaries.
Furthermore, Commerce must determine the appropriate level of export and transfer controls for such items under the Export Administration Regulations.
The bill also requires Commerce to develop a strategy to prevent such items from being available to foreign adversaries. The President must report annually to Congress on this strategy.
Legislative subjects
Asia; Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies; China; Congressional oversight; International Affairs; Licensing and registrations; Technology assessment; Technology transfer and commercialization; Trade restrictions