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News Release 22-016
Inv. No(s). 332-585
Contact: Jennifer Andberg, 202-205-1819
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has released the first of two reports on foreign censorship policies and practices that affect U.S. businesses.
The investigations, Foreign Censorship Part 1: Policies and Practices Affecting U.S. Businesses and Foreign Censorship Part 2: Trade and Economic Effects on U.S. Businesses, were requested by the Senate Committee on Finance in a letter received on April 8, 2021, modifying its earlier letter of January 4, 2021.
As requested, in the first report, the USITC, an independent, nonpartisan federal agency, identified and described various foreign censorship practices, with particular focus on examples that U.S. businesses cite as impeding trade or investment in key foreign markets.
The report includes:
- a description of the evolution of censorship and censorship-enabling policies and practices over the past five years in six key foreign markets: China, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, India, and Indonesia; and
- a description of elements that entail extraterritorial censorship and the roles of governmental and nongovernmental actors in implementing and enforcing censorship policies and practices in these six key foreign markets.
Detailed information on the Commission's findings can be found in the report's Executive Summary.
Foreign Censorship, Part 1: Policies and Practices Affecting U.S. Businesses (Investigation No. 332-585, USITC publication 5244, December 2021) is available on the USITC's internet site at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub5244.pdf.
About these investigations: USITC general factfinding investigations, such as these, cover matters related to tariffs or trade and are generally conducted under section 332(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission’s objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its findings and analyses to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.