Wolf Amendment For NASA Funding and Work With JPL
Guidance on China Restrictions
Since 2011, as a result of an act of Congress, NASA has been prohibited from funding any work that involves bilateral participation, collaboration, or coordination with the government of China1 or any Chinese-owned company or entity,2 regardless of whether any funds are exchanged. Multilateral activities (involving additional countries) are generally permitted.
This page addresses the implications to proposals, travel, collaborations, hosting, procurements, data exchange and communication for Caltech employees, with the goal of distinguishing bilateral from multilateral activities, and providing useful references for detailed information.
Bilateral/Multilateral Activity
The law covers affiliation with institutions of the People's Republic of China (PRC) or Chinese-owned companies incorporated under the laws of China, rather than individual citizenship or nationality. A Caltech or JPL researcher who is a Chinese citizen may work on a NASA project, but an individual affiliated with an institution of the Chinese state, even if the person is an American citizen, will be subject to the statutory restriction. Please note that Caltech and JPL employees are not permitted to form or maintain affiliations with Chinese institutions (e.g., board member, science advisor, adjunct professor).
Work that involves investigators affiliated with institutions in other countries in addition to the PRC and USA, and/or work done under the auspices of a multilateral organization, is generally permitted. For example, posting content to a publicly accessible web page does not constitute bilateral activity. Chinese institutions will continue to have access to NASA public data, data products, publications, etc., and NASA funded investigators can use publicly available data from China. Please note that multiple U.S. entities collaborating with one or more Chinese institutions is not considered a multilateral activity.
As a result of the bilateral restrictions, NASA has included in grants, contracts, and solicitations clauses that proposers and recipients may be ineligible for funding if their ongoing or proposed work involves bilateral activity with China or Chinese-owned companies, whether funded or performed under an arrangement with no exchange of funds. This means that it is not sufficient for Caltech to avoid sending funds to China. Caltech may not spend any NASA funds on any part of a bilateral project with China.
Contributions to a NASA proposal from a Chinese university or institution, or from a person affiliated with a Chinese university or institution, cannot be accepted. A co-investigator who has a dual affiliation with a Chinese university and a non-Chinese university may participate under his/her non--Chinese university affiliation.
Caltech researchers may invite a Chinese speaker employed by a Chinese state laboratory to a conference for which NASA is partial funder and sponsor if the conference is multilateral and held at a non-NASA facility or outside JPL. Meetings between Caltech employees and the Chinese visitors without participants from institutions based in other countries are bilateral and therefore are not allowed.
A Chinese postdoctoral associate or other type of researcher at a U.S. university with a J-1 visa who is also a faculty/researcher at a Chinese university/research institution may not be funded in whole or in part using NASA funds and is not permitted to work on NASA funded projects.
Caltech researchers may travel to China using NASA funding to attend multilateral, international conferences and workshops. NASA-funded attendees may not discuss or engage in bilateral collaboration of any kind with Chinese participants at the workshops or conferences. For example, during NASA-funded travel, JPL employees may not visit or present at Chinese universities.
Caltech may not loan materials to Chinese scientists. This would constitute a bilateral collaboration or contract with China, which is not permitted.
Caltech scientists who are part of international science teams may accept Chinese science data through group data archives because international teams are multilateral and their activities are therefore not prohibited.
Caltech researchers are not allowed to enter into any agreement with Chinese organizations to obtain access to data; that is, a Caltech researcher may not sign or orally agree to any contract or agreement. If access can be obtained without such agreement, or through the data archives of multilateral groups that include China as a member, then the activity is permitted.
Caltech researchers may use Chinese data (for example, from ground stations for validation of Earth-orbiting science instrument data products) if the data is publicly available.
Caltech employees may co-author scientific research papers with Chinese colleagues as part of their official duties when at least one co-author is affiliated with an institution in a third country. In this case, it is a multilateral activity.
Caltech employees may communicate with Chinese government organizations to engage and enhance China's participation in multilateral science groups, such as international working groups or conference steering committees. When possible, Caltech employees should use the international group's name, and even letterhead, when communicating to help to avoid any confusion as to the nature of the business with the group member institutions and agencies in China. Please note the China restrictions do not affect communication with Chinese government organizations once another country besides the U.S. and China is included.
A Caltech researcher may accept a request from an editor of a journal that is not based in China to review a paper by a Chinese author describing work done in China. Because the review work is done for a company not based in China, there is no bilateral cooperation with China or a Chinese-owned company.
Contracting officers may not make awards for research or technology development services to China or Chinese--owned companies with NASA funds. "China" or "Chinese--owned company" means the PRC, any company owned by the PRC or any company incorporated under the laws of the PRC. Contracts for commercial off-the-shelf and non-developmental items are exempted from the prohibition because they constitute purchase of goods or services that would not involve participation, collaboration, provision of specifications, or coordination between the parties.
Contracting officers may not process Task Plans to or Task Orders with China or Chinese-owned companies.
Teresa Recinos, Export Compliance Manager, (626) 395-3679
[email protected]
1Includes Hong Kong and Macau
2Section 1340 of the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, Public Law No.
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