S. 4009 — Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act

This section defines terms used in the Act. It specifies that "appropriate congressional committees" means the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees and the Senate Foreign Relations, Banking, and Intelligence Committees. It defines "forced organ harvesting" as the removal of one or more organs from an individual by coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, or abuse of power or vulnerability. It incorporates the existing statutory meanings of "intelligence community" and "organ."

This section states congressional findings on organ transplant policies and practices in the People’s Republic of China. It highlights persistent concerns over forced organ harvesting targeting individuals based on religious beliefs, ethnic background, or other affiliations, including Falun Gong practitioners and ethnic Uyghurs; cites the 2023 State Department International Religious Freedom Report; notes the Chinese government’s failure to provide a credible response to international calls for accountability; and observes that the U.S. intelligence community has not yet issued a formal assessment of the allegations.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that the United States Government should investigate allegations of systemic forced organ harvesting in China, including from Falun Gong practitioners, and condemn illegal, coercive, non-consensual, or non-transparent organ procurement and transplantation practices, including from prisoners of conscience.

This section requires the President to impose sanctions, including blocking of property and inadmissibility to the United States, on foreign persons determined to have knowingly engaged in or facilitated forced organ harvesting in the People’s Republic of China. It mandates an initial list within 180 days of enactment, with updates as new information becomes available and annually thereafter, and terminates the authority 5 years after enactment.

This section requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and relevant intelligence community elements, to submit a report within one year of enactment to the appropriate congressional committees on the organ transplant policies and practices of the People’s Republic of China. The report must include a determination on whether the government engages or engaged in systemic forced organ harvesting, annual transplant and voluntary donor numbers, sources of organs, procurement timelines, a list of all U.S. grants supporting related research over the prior 10 years, and, if applicable, whether such harvesting constitutes an atrocity.

This section prohibits sanctions authorized under this Act from applying to the importation of goods. It defines "good" as any article, natural or man-made substance, material, supply, or manufactured product, including inspection and test equipment, but excluding technical data.