*更新*
禁令生效仅几小时之后，一名联邦法官发布了一项法院临时禁令（请扫下方二维码查看法院临时禁令）以阻止禁令的生效。这项法院临时禁令将在禁令的诉讼期间持续有效，直至获得对禁令诉讼的最终判决结果或由高级法院推翻该项禁令。
背景
2020年8月6日，美国总统特朗普发布了一项针对腾讯科技股份有限公司旗下热门移动应用的行政令。这项名为《关于应对造成的威胁的行政令》[1]（下称“禁令”）要求，自2020年9月20日起，禁止“任何个人、或受到美国管辖的任何主体，与腾讯科技控股有限公司……或任何由（美国）商务部部长所认定的该公司的子公司……进行与相关进行任何交易。”2019年5月15日特朗普总统所发布的一项关于信息与通讯科技和服务供应链安全问题的行政令中所宣布了国家紧急状态，8月6日的行政令正是在这一国家紧急状态的基础上发布的。
2020年9月18日，美国商务部发布了《被禁交易认定》来执行8月6日的行政令（“禁令”）。被禁交易限于企业对企业交易，包括提供：
在美国境内可下载或更新在移动设备上使用的移动应用的传播和维护服务；
在美国境内使该应用运行或优化的互联网托管、内容交付、直接或间接的互联网传输或对等服务；
以及在美国境内通过该应用以转账或支付为目的进行的服务。
禁令也禁止腾讯授权任何在美国的公司用的代码以不同的名称或不同的所有权创建同功能的新软件。
尽管有着以上诸多广泛的限制，禁令也明确指出一些不受到禁令限制的活动，比如用户用交换个人或商业信息，包括通过转账和收款。
禁令是为了削弱能让用户进行交流，包括文字或多媒体信息、语音和视频通话，或进行交易的基础设施。广泛来说，禁令并不针对使用该应用的个人或企业，但如果美国的服务提供方无法提供让运行的平台，那么该禁令确实会让在美国的使用举步维艰。根据网络提供方对禁令解读的严苛程度，所有的数据传输都可能被禁止。
目前尚不清楚美国商务部是否会为继续提供在美国运行的服务批准一般性或特殊性的许可，也不清楚联邦法院是否会在由美国用户联盟提起的一项诉讼中判定禁止禁令生效。
你能做什么？
在解读禁令的时候，很重要的一点是首先要读到没有被禁的内容。禁令并不适用于以下四类交易。但是，尽管你可以继续使用该应用，一些必要的基础设施将可能不复存在。
1. 向员工或承包商支付工资、薪水或福利。这使得腾讯可以继续向员工和承包商付钱。
2. 用交换个人或商业信息，包括转账或收款。
3. 美国的个人或受到美国司法管辖的主体在美国境外的活动。这使得苹果和谷歌可以继续在它们的非美国应用商店继续提供应用。
4. 在美国的数据储存。如果一家公司有这样的数据，它可以在不将该数据转移到中国的前提下保存这些数据。因此，用户可以下载并保存这些聊天数据以备未来使用，比如，在一项供应合同的诉讼中将这些聊天记录作为证据。
你不能做什么？
禁令只适用于企业对企业交易，针对的也只是与腾讯有商业关系的个人。
尽管禁令以活动的形式列出，但这些活动对于被禁止向提供的服务的商业类型并不清晰。在禁令之下，任何受到美国管辖的个人都被禁止与腾讯发生以下企业对企业的交易：
1. 提供应用——在美国境内提供移动应用下载、维护或更新的移动应用商店，或任何可以下载或更新可在移动设备上使用该应用的网上交易平台。从周日起，用户将无法在美国的苹果应用商店或美国的谷歌应用商店下载应用。
2. 为服务提供托管——提供移动应用在美国的运行或优化的互联网托管服务。互联网托管服务是指通过向个人或机构提供储存或计算资源，为一个或多个网站或互联网服务提供支持，例如文件托管、域名服务器托管或云托管。因此，美国的互联网托管服务商无法为腾讯提供托管服务，即便他们在8月6日的行政令之前与腾讯已有合同，也会被要求从周日起停止向提供服务。
3. 向提供内容交付——内容交付服务使在美国的移动应用得以运行和优化。内容交付服务是以一定的费用对内容进行复制、保存和传送。比如，一个网站可以与一个内容交付网络签订合约，提供地理上更靠近终端用户的代理服务器，而不是从一个单一的中央化服务器传送内容，从而缩短反应时间。这样的“付费”内容交付服务将从周日开始被禁止向提供。
4. 提供互联网传输或对等服务——任何能让移动应用在美国得以运行或优化的直接或间接的互联网传输或对等服务。这项禁令最少会禁止网络提供商直接或间接与腾讯签约为提供专用带宽。这一条对腾讯可能不是一个大问题，因为据了解，腾讯的北美服务器在加拿大。更严格一点的解读是网络提供商会封锁所有的数据传输。在上述的第二条禁令内容和本条禁令内容之间，数据在美国境内的传送将会被延迟，最坏的情况是被完全切断。
5. 提供资金转移或处理付款服务——通过移动应用为转移资金或处理付款提供服务。这其中涉及到的案例可能包括金融机构和商家。但应当注意，这一禁令只针对企业对企业的交易。个人用户可能还是可以用向其他用户转账，如果这一操作不要求企业对企业的资金转移或付款处理。
6. 将的代码或功能用于其它软件——在美国开发或获取的软件功能或服务中使用移动应用的构成代码、功能或服务。这一条内容将禁止使用的移动应用的源代码来创建该应用的其他版本或提供在内运行的诸如游戏这样的“小程序”。
7. 以后被认定的任何交易——由美国商务部部长今后认定的与腾讯进行的相关交易。这一条是未来商务部部长可能以此次“禁令”相同形式宣布的禁令内容的统称。此次的禁令是得到了8月6日行政令的授权。这一条禁令预示未来可能有宣布额外禁令的威胁，因此很有可能是旨在劝退企业与腾讯进行尚未被禁令所具体禁止的交易。
金杜律师事务所拥一支经验丰富的专业团队，随时可以为客户提供额外的指导和建议。如有疑问，欢迎联系：
Aaron Wolfson
Meg Utterback
*UPDATE*
Just hours after the WeChat Prohibitions went into effect, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction (Scan the QR code below to the judges order) halting them from going into effect. The injunction will be in effect while the lawsuit challenging the prohibitions is being litigated or until a higher court overturns the injunction.
The New US Restrictions on WeChat Usage
Preview
On Thursday, August 6, 2020, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order directed at WeChat, the popular mobile application owned by Tencent Holdings Ltd. The “Executive Order on Addressing the Threat Posed by WeChat” (the “WeChat Order”) prohibits, as of September 20, 2020, “any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. … or any subsidiary of that entity, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce … .” The August 6 Executive Order was based on a national emergency that President Trump declared in a May 15, 2019 Executive Order addressing security issues related to the information and communications technology and services supply chain.
On September 18, 2020, the Department of Commerce issued its “Identification of Prohibited Transactions” to implement the August 6 Executive Order (“WeChat Prohibitions”).[1] The prohibited transactions are limited to business-to-business transactions and include providing:
Services to distribute or maintain the WeChat mobile app where mobile users within US territory may download or update the app for use on their mobile devices;
Internet hosting, content delivery, or directly contracted or arranged internet transit or peering services enabling the functioning or optimization of the app within US territory; and
Services through the app for the purpose of transferring funds or processing payments to or from parties within US territory.
The prohibitions also prevent Tencent from authorizing a US-based company to use its WeChat code to create new software that might perform the same functions as WeChat under a different name or different ownership.
Despite these broad prohibitions, the WeChat Prohibitions document also carves out certain activities that are not prohibited, such as users exchanging personal or business information using WeChat, including the transferring and receiving of funds.
The prohibitions are targeted at undermining the infrastructure that allows WeChat users to communicate with each other, whether through text or multimedia messages or by voice or video calls, and to conduct transactions. Generally, the prohibitions do not implicate individuals or businesses who may be using the app, but the prohibitions may make using WeChat difficult or impossible within the United States if US-based service providers cannot provide a platform that allows WeChat to function. Depending on how strictly network providers interpret the prohibitions, all WeChat data traffic may be blocked.
It remains to be seen whether the Department of Commerce will grant any general or specific licenses to continue providing services to allow WeChat to continue functioning in the United States. It also remains to be seen whether a federal court will enjoin the prohibitions from going into effect in a lawsuit filed by a group called US WeChat Users Alliance.
What You Can Do
When reviewing the WeChat Prohibitions, it is important to first read what is not prohibited. The prohibitions do not apply to the four categories of transactions below. However, while you may be able to continue using the app, the necessary infrastructure may no longer be available.
1. Payment of wages, salaries or benefits to employees or contractors. This will allow Tencent to pay its employees and contractors.
2. Exchange of personal or business information using WeChat, including transferring or receiving funds.
3. Activities outside the US, even where US individuals or those subject to US jurisdiction may be involved. This will permit Apple and Google to continue offering the WeChat app on their non-US app stores.
4. The storing of WeChat data in the US. Assuming a company had access to such data, it could maintain that data as long as it is not transferred to China Thus, users can download and save chats to preserve them for the future, e.g., to be used as evidence in a litigation over a supply contract.
What You Can’t Do
The prohibitions only apply to business-to-business transactions and are targeted at persons who are engaged in business with Tencent.
While the prohibitions are phrased in terms of activities, they implicitly define the types of businesses that are prohibited from providing services to WeChat. Under the terms of the WeChat Prohibitions, any person subject to US jurisdiction is prohibited from engaging in a business-to-business transaction with Tencent in the following activities:
1.Providing the WeChat App – Distribution or maintenance of the WeChat mobile app or updates to it through an online mobile app store or any online marketplace where mobile users within US territory can download or update the app for use on their mobile devices. Starting Sunday, users will no longer be able to download the WeChat app from the US Apple App Store or US Google Play Store.
2. Providing hosting for WeChat services – Provision of internet hosting services that enable the functioning or optimization of the WeChat mobile app in the US. Internet hosting services means a service through which storage or computing resources are provided to individuals or organizations for the accommodation of one or more website or internet services, for example, file hosting, domain name server hosting or cloud hosting. Thus, US internet hosting services will be unable to provide hosting services to Tencent, even if they have a contract that predates the August 6 Executive Order, and are required to exclude WeChat from their services starting Sunday.
3. Providing WeChat content delivery – Provision of content delivery services enabling the functioning and optimization of the WeChat mobile app in the US. A content delivery service is a service that copies, saves and delivers content for a fee. For example, a website may contract with a content delivery network to provide proxy servers geographically close to end users, rather than from a single centralized location, to improve response time. Such content delivery services will be prohibited from serving content for WeChat “for a fee” starting Sunday.
4. Providing internet transit or peering services – Any provision of directly contracted or arranged internet transit or peering services enabling or optimizing the WeChat mobile app within the US. At a minimum, this prohibits network providers from directly contracting or arranging with Tencent to provide dedicated bandwidth for WeChat. This may not be a significant problem because it is understood that Tencent’s servers for North America are situated in Canada. A more strict interpretation of this prohibition would require network providers to block all WeChat data traffic. Between item 2 above and this prohibition, the transfer of WeChat data within the US will be subject to delays and, in the worst case, will become virtually impossible.
5. Providing fund transfers or payment processing – Provision of services through the WeChat mobile app for the purpose of transferring funds or processing payments. Examples may include financial institutions and merchants. But note that this prohibition only applies to business-to-business transactions. Individual users may still be able to send other users funds using WeChat if doing so does not require a business-to-business fund transfer or payment processing.
6. Using WeChat code or functions for other software – Utilization of the WeChat mobile app’s constituent code, function or services in the function of software or services developed or accessible in the US. This provision will prohibit using the WeChat mobile app’s source code to create another version of the application or to provide “mini programs” such as games that work within WeChat.
7. Any transaction that may be later identified – Other transactions related to WeChat with Tencent as may be identified at a future date by the Secretary of Commerce. This provision is a catch-all placeholder for future identifications of prohibitions that the Secretary of Commerce may announce in the same manner as the WeChat Prohibitions have been announced under the authority delegated to it under the August 6 Executive Order. This provision threatens additional prohibitions to be announced in the future and is likely designed to persuade businesses from engaging in transactions with Tencent that are not specifically prohibited by the WeChat Prohibitions.
KWM has an experienced team of professionals ready to provide additional guidance and advice for our clients. Please reach out to ：
Aaron Wolfson
([email protected]) or
Meg Utterback
([email protected]) with any questions.
扫一扫查看法院禁令文件
Scan to the preliminary injunction.
Footnote:
[1]The forthcoming publication of the document is available at ：
作者介绍
胡梅
Meg Utterback
合伙人Partner
纽约办公室New York Office
业务领域 Areas of Practice：
国际仲裁、跨境争议解决、建设工程及与白领职务犯罪有关的咨询
cross-border disputes, international arbitration,labor contract issues
胡梅女士曾代表美国、欧洲以及中国的多家企业，在国际商会、中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会、香港国际仲裁中心、和印度仲裁委员会等多家机构进行过仲裁。此外，胡梅女士还擅长处理与外商投资、能源开发、建设工程相关的法律事务，并协助客户进行日常性的合规审查。Meg has represented numerous Chinese companies in US litigation and assisted them to understand the process while helping them to devise winning strategies. As a US litigator, Meg also understands the expectations of courts and counsel in the US. For US litigation matters, Meg uses teams in China and the United States with bilingual capability.
Aaron Wolfson
合伙人 Partner
纽约办公室 New York Office
业务领域 Areas of Practice：
争议解决诉讼及金融犯罪合规
financial crimes compliance,corporate compliance issues
Wolfson先生代理国内和国际客户处理各类案件，包括白领犯罪案件、行政执法事务、与贸易相关的尽职调查、复杂的金融争议解决案件、内部调查、实体名单指定以及公司合规问题。Wolfson先生拥有在公共机构和商业领域方面的丰富经验。Mr. Wolfson has extensive public- and private-sector experience. As a prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, he led numerous investigations and prosecutions of global financial institutions for violations of U.S. sanctions laws.
Andrea Pacelli
顾问 Counsel
纽约办公室 New York Office
业务领域 Areas of Practice：
专利诉讼，涉及电力、计算机和电信等行业
patent litigation for technology clients, including in the electrical, computer, and telecommunications fields
Pacelli在集成电路设计与制造、无线宽带通信、电力电子、云存储、在线广告等多个技术领域均拥有领先的法律服务经验。他在专利诉讼的各个阶段均具有第一手经验，包括专利选择和预申请调查、书面证据开示、取证、专利申请范围解释、简易判决、审判和上诉。Dr. Pacelli has played leadership roles in matters covering a range of technologies such as integrated circuit design and manufacturing, wireless and broadband telecommunications, power electronics, cloud storage, and online advertising. He has first-hand experience in all phases of patent litigation, from patent selection and pre-filing investigations to written discovery, depositions, claim construction, summary judgment, trial, and appeal.
John Petrsoric
顾问 Counsel
纽约办公室 New York Office
业务领域 Areas of Practice：
知识产权，尤其电气与计算机技术领域
intellectual property, especially electrical and computing arts
在其过往的法律职业生涯中，Petrsoric曾参与诸多重大专利诉讼案件，涉及各行业中最负盛名的一些公司与企业。涉及的行业包括：消费类电子产品、电信（包括核心网络流量管理、IP语音技术、无线通信和有限数据技术）、半导体（包括微处理器和信号处理器设计）以及计算机软件（包括金融行业自动化、移动操作系统和自动化动画）。他为客户就专利诉讼提供全方位的代理服务与法律意见，包括专利的侵权、有效性、可执行性和损害赔偿范围等。Dr. Pacelli has played leadership roles in matters covering a range of technologies such as integrated circuit design and manufacturing, wireless and broadband telecommunications, power electronics, cloud storage, and online advertising. He has first-hand experience in all phases of patent litigation, from patent selection and pre-filing investigations to written discovery, depositions, claim construction, summary judgment, trial, and appeal.
Michael Amberg
律师 Associate
硅谷办公室Silicon Valley Office
我知道你 在看 哦