Senate Passes Bill To Crack Down On Smuggling Of U.S. Chips To China

“Our legislation would strengthen BIS’s export control enforcement by rewarding whistleblowers with credible information on illegal actions to come forward,” said Sen. Rounds.

According to a bill summary provided by Rounds’ staff, the legislation would require BIS to establish a public, secure platform for whistleblower submissions of reports, create a fund to pay whistleblower rewards and operate the program, funded by fines from export control violations, and provide confidentiality guarantees and anti-retaliation protections to protect whistleblowers.

The law would require that whistleblowers who provide original information that leads to the imposition of fines on offenders would be eligible for between 10 percent and 30 percent of the fines collected, with exceptions for known terrorists and criminals and federal workers operating within the extent of their employment.

Whistleblowers should receive status updates every 30 days, and credible reports should result in formal inquiries within 60 days.