---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 6482"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "6482"
heading: "Voluntary codes of conduct for United States institutions of higher education outside the United States"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/6482"
units:
  - "Chapter 73 — International Religious Freedom"
  - "Subchapter V — Miscellaneous Provisions"
---

# §6482. Voluntary codes of conduct for United States institutions of higher education outside the United States

- (a) **Finding—** Congress recognizes the enduring importance of United States institutions of higher education worldwide—
  - (1) for their potential for shaping positive leadership and new educational models in host countries; and
  - (2) for their emphasis on teaching universally recognized rights of free inquiry and academic freedom.
- (b) **Sense of Congress—** It is the sense of Congress that United States institutions of higher education operating campuses outside the United States or establishing any educational entities with [foreign governments](/usc/22/6402.md?p=8), particularly with or in countries the [governments](/usc/22/6402.md?p=8) of which engage in or tolerate severe [violations of religious freedom](/usc/22/6402.md?p=16) as identified in the [Annual Report](/usc/22/6402.md?p=2), should seek to adopt a voluntary code of conduct for operating in such countries that should—
  - (1) uphold the right of freedom of religion of their employees and students, including the right to manifest that religion peacefully as protected in international law;
  - (2) ensure that the religious views and peaceful practice of religion in no way affect, or be allowed to affect, the status of a worker’s or faculty member’s employment or a student’s enrollment; and
  - (3) make every effort in all negotiations, contracts, or memoranda of understanding engaged in or constructed with a [foreign government](/usc/22/6402.md?p=8) to protect academic freedom and the rights enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 105–292, title VII, § 702, as added Pub. L. 114–281, title VI, § 601, Dec. 16, 2016, 130 Stat. 1438.)