Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Transparent and Accessible Sanctions Coordinating Office Act” or the “TASCO Act”.
Transparent and Accessible Sanctions Coordinating Office Act
A BILL
To require publicly available information relating to sanctions to be both user-friendly and consolidated on a publicly accessible website, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Sense of Congress
It is the sense of Congress as follows:
The United States will increasingly use sanctions as an important foreign policy tool in holding accountable malign actors in the international community and to compel state and non-state actors to conform to international norms.
The increasing volume of data related to United States sanctions will become more crucial in determining its efficacy.
The data related to United States sanctions must be centralized and regularly managed.
Data from various departments and agencies must be aggregated and updated, including travel sanctions, financial sanctions, trade sanctions, and export controls. Although various agencies will still maintain their jurisdiction over implementing these various sanctions, one office must be responsible for compiling and displaying such data in an easily accessible format. Various systems handing such data should interface and automatically update such data in regular and frequent intervals.
The United States will make available this critical data related to United States sanctions to individuals, academic institutions, media outlets, and non-governmental organizations, conducting analysis on sanctions programs through an online platform.
Sec. 3 Establishment of transparent and accessible sanctions coordinating office
In general— The President shall take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that all materials relating to the imposition of sanctions, including guidance, lists of sanctioned persons, and procedures relating to general and specific licenses, are made available in a consolidated, machine-readable database.
Establishment— There is established in the executive branch of the Federal Government the Transparent and Accessible Sanctions Coordinating Office (“TASCO”), which shall be responsible for carrying out the duties described in subsection (d).
Director and staff—
Appointment— The head of the TASCO shall be a Director appointed by the Secretary of State. The position of Director shall be a career position in the civil service.
Staff— The Director of the TASCO may appoint personnel as the Director considers appropriate.
Applicability of certain civil service laws— The Director and the staff of the TASCO shall be appointed subject to the provisions of title 5, United States Code, governing appointments made in the competitive service, and shall be paid in accordance with the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating to classification and General Schedule Pay rates.
Duties—
Database—
In general— Not later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the Director of the TASCO shall establish a publicly available, downloadable, searchable, sortable, and machine-readable database of individuals and entities subject to United States sanctions. Such database shall be published on a publicly available website of the TASCO.
Standardized format— In developing the database under subparagraph (A), the Director of the TASCO, in consultation with each covered Federal actor, shall establish a standardized format for the compilation, storage, and display of all data included in such database.
Required consolidation of sanctions lists— The database under subparagraph (A) shall include the following—
The List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the Treasury.
The Entity List maintained by the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce.
Individuals or entities subject to sanctions maintained and enforced by the Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation of the Department of State.
Any other individual or entity subject to sanctions imposed under United States law, including sanctions relating to ineligibility for visas or other authorization to enter the United States.
Minimum data attribute requirements— The Director of the TASCO shall ensure that the data for each sanction included in the database under subparagraph (A) includes, at a minimum, the following:
The name, and any alias, of the sanctioned individual or entity (including an aircraft or vessel).
The country of origin or citizenship of such individual or entity.
The industry type, if applicable.
The position of the individual in their organization, if applicable.
The reason for sanction, including but not limited to the criminal violation or malign act.
The date of sanction.
The region of sanction and if available, address of registration.
If available, any unique tax identification number.
The type of sanctions, including but not limited to travel, financial, and/or trade.
Harmonized System code, if applicable.
Any other data attribute relevant to the notification and reporting of sanctions activities.
Maintenance of currency of database and website— Beginning not later than 90 days after the date of the establishment of the database under subparagraph (A), and not later than 30 days after the entry into force of any new statutory authority or Executive order relating to new or additional sanctions, the Director of the TASCO shall update the database, and the website on which the database is published.
Coordination— In carrying out this paragraph, the Director of the TASCO shall coordinate, as appropriate, with covered Federal actors.
Report to congress— Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, acting through the Director of the TASCO and in consultation with each covered Federal actor, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the transparency and accessibility of the database under subparagraph (A) and the website on which the database is published. Such report shall identify the following:
The number of individual users who have accessed the database through the website.
Any technical actions that have been taken to ensure the accessibility and transparency of data available on the database.
Any stakeholder engagement that has been conducted to ensure that all relevant parties, including those with decision-making authority, members of the business community, and other members of civil society, may effectively access such data.
Definitions— In this section:
Appropriate congressional committees— The term “appropriate congressional committees” means—
the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives; and
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Finance of the Senate.
Civil service— The term “civil service” has the meaning given that term in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code.
Covered Federal actor— The term “covered Federal actor” means the following:
The Secretary of State.
The Secretary of the Treasury.
The Secretary of Commerce.
The head of any other Federal department or agency relevant to the imposition or enforcement of United States sanctions.