(a) Definition. The term employment agreement means any agreement or arrangement in which an individual, other than as an independent contractor, performs work or performs job functions directly for a person in exchange for payment or other consideration, including employment on a board or committee, executive-level arrangements or services, and employment services at an operational level.

(b) Examples—(1) Example 1. A U.S. company that conducts consumer human genomic testing collects and maintains bulk human genomic data from U.S. consumers. The U.S. company has global IT operations, including employing a team of individuals who are citizens of and primarily resident in a country of concern to provide back-end services. The agreements related to employing these individuals are employment agreements. Employment as part of the global IT operations team includes access to the U.S. company's systems containing the bulk human genomic data. These employment agreements would be prohibited transactions (because they involve access to bulk human genomic data).

(2) Example 2. A U.S. company develops its own mobile games and social media apps that collect the bulk U.S. sensitive personal data of its U.S. users. The U.S. company distributes these games and apps in the United States through U.S.-based digital distribution platforms for software applications. The U.S. company intends to hire as CEO an individual designated by the Attorney General as a covered person because of evidence the CEO acts on behalf of a country of concern. The agreement retaining the individual as CEO would be an employment agreement. The individual's authorities and responsibilities as CEO involve access to all data collected by the apps, including the bulk U.S. sensitive personal data. The CEO's employment would be a restricted transaction.

(3) Example 3. A U.S. company has derived U.S. persons' biometric identifiers by scraping public photos from social media platforms. The U.S. company stores the derived biometric identifiers in bulk, including face-data scans, for the purpose of training or enhancing facial-recognition software. The U.S. company intends to hire a foreign person, who primarily resides in a country of concern, as a project manager responsible for the database. The agreement retaining the project manager would be an employment agreement. The individual's employment as the lead project manager would involve access to the bulk biometric identifiers. The project manager's employment would be a restricted transaction.

(4) Example 4. A U.S. financial-services company seeks to hire a data scientist who is a citizen of a country of concern who primarily resides in that country of concern and who is developing a new artificial intelligence-based personal assistant that could be sold as a standalone product to the company's customers. The arrangement retaining the data scientist would be an employment agreement. As part of that individual's employment, the data scientist would have administrator rights that allow that individual to access, download, and transmit bulk quantities of personal financial data not ordinarily incident to and part of the company's underlying provision of financial services to its customers. The data scientist's employment would be a restricted transaction.

(5) Example 5. A U.S. company sells goods and collects bulk personal financial data about its U.S. customers. The U.S. company appoints a citizen of a country of concern, who is located in a country of concern, to its board of directors. This director would be a covered person, and the arrangement appointing the director would be an employment agreement. In connection with the board's data security and cybersecurity responsibilities, the director could access the bulk personal financial data. The director's employment would be a restricted transaction.