UCLA will enforce a review process to limit the data that research faculty and staff share with certain foreign countries in line with guidance from the federal government, two vice chancellors announced Friday.

The requirements – issued by the Department of Justice and National Institutes of Health – prohibit researchers from sharing sensitive personal information, government-related data and biological samples with people or organizations associated with China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela, said Roger Wakimoto, vice chancellor for research, innovation and creative activities, and Mark Krause, associate vice chancellor for ethics, compliance and audit, in a Friday campuswide email. 

Wakimoto and Krause cited the DOJ’s Bulk Data Rule, which prevents the named countries from accessing bulk sensitive data such as health and genomic information, and the NIH Policy on Enhancing Security Measures for Human Biospecimens, which prevents the countries from accessing biological samples. The policies were both issued in 2025. 

UCLA Media Relations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the federal guidelines and why the university sent the announcement months after they went into effect.

More than a dozen other universities – including Cornell University, the University of Florida and the University of Maryland, Baltimore – have complied with the federal restrictions. 

UCLA’s announcement comes after the Department of Defense separately ordered the university and 29 other colleges in August to review their foreign partnerships – including those with organizations in China, Iran and Russia – and end those deemed problematic or risk losing eligibility for federal research funding. 

[Related: Pentagon orders UCLA to audit foreign ties, threatens to cut research funding]

UCLA has collaborated with multiple of the entities on the Pentagon’s list of institutions engaging in problematic activities, including Fudan University and Tsinghua University. 

Wakimoto and Krause encouraged the UCLA community to set up contracts for transferring research materials and consult with UCLA Export Control before engaging with countries sanctioned by the United States government.