Continuing the Biden administration’s focus on securing the nation’s critical technologies, on September 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a Notice of Proposed...more
9/30/2024
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Automated Systems ,
Automated Transportation ,
Autonomy ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Connected Cars ,
Motor Vehicles ,
PRC ,
Russia ,
Software ,
Supply Chain ,
U.S. Commerce Department
The Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) just announced two developments impacting the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced technologies sectors. Specifically, BIS imposed the first export...more
On July 23, 2024, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the “Committee”) released its Annual Report to Congress covering calendar year 2023. In a year that featured lower deal volume, CFIUS...more
On June 24, 2024, the Commerce Department published a Final Determination under its Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) authorities. The determination prohibits the Russian-controlled cybersecurity...more
7/16/2024
/ CFIUS ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Covered Transactions ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Executive Orders ,
FCC ,
Foreign Adversaries ,
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ,
Information Systems Security Program (ISSP) ,
National Security ,
Risk Assessment ,
Russia ,
Software ,
U.S. Commerce Department
On June 21, 2024, the Biden administration rolled out its outbound investment screening regulations. Last year, the Biden administration published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) that outlined the broad...more
7/11/2024
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Covered Transactions ,
Due Diligence ,
Equity Investors ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Information Technology ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Investment ,
Popular ,
Screening Procedures ,
U.S. Treasury
On June 12, 2024, the United States took several hard-hitting sanctions- and export control-related actions intended to intensify pressure on the Russian government and hamper Russia’s ability to continue to support its war...more
6/19/2024
/ Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
General Licenses ,
Information Technology ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Secondary Sanctions ,
Software ,
Supply Chain ,
U.S. Commerce Department
Last week the D.C. Circuit released its long-anticipated opinion in the Attorney General v. Wynn, holding that the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) could not compel Steve Wynn to retroactively register under the Foreign Agents...more
On May 22, 2024, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division (NSD) announced its first-ever prosecution declination under its corporate voluntary self-disclosure (VSD) policy for sanctions and export controls...more
On May 13, 2024, President Biden issued an Executive Order requiring MineOne Partners Limited and its affiliates (together, “MineOne”) to divest their interest in real property located less than one mile from Francis E....more
On April 2, 2024, the Georgia State Senate sent Senate Bill 368, which creates a state law version of the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for the State of Georgia, to Governor Brian Kemp for his signature. The...more
On April 24, 2024, President Biden signed into law a long-debated $98 billion foreign aid and national security legislative package (the “Act”) providing funds for Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine, and authorizing new sanctions...more
4/30/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Foreign Aid ,
Hamas ,
Harmonization Rules ,
Human Rights ,
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ,
Israel ,
Joe Biden ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Popular ,
Taiwan ,
Terrorist Acts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine
On April 11, 2024, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) unveiled updates to its regulations that sharpen CFIUS’s processes and enforcement authorities. Together with remarks by U.S. government...more
On March 14, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced its first enforcement case of the year and its first ever involving dealings with a Russian designated for sanctions...more
3/25/2024
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) ,
Due Diligence ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement ,
Executive Orders ,
Export Controls ,
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations (FNKSR) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Risk Assessment ,
Russia ,
Securities Transactions ,
U.S. Treasury
On March 6, 2024, the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Justice, and the Treasury issued a Tri-Seal Compliance Note (Compliance Note) stressing the need for non-U.S. persons to comply with U.S. sanctions and export controls. The...more
Today’s alert—the second in our Sanctions 2023 Year in Review Series—provides an overview of U.S. sanctions enforcement in 2023, including the key lessons learned from the public enforcement actions issued by the U.S....more
3/5/2024
/ Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
CFTC ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Sanctions ,
FinCEN ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Sanction Violations ,
SDN List ,
Technology ,
Ukraine ,
Virtual Currency ,
Whistleblowers
2023 was another record year for U.S. sanctions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Most prominently, OFAC continued to impose significant additional sanctions on Russia in...more
3/4/2024
/ China ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cybersecurity ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Drug Trafficking ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Hamas ,
Human Rights ,
National Security ,
NDAA ,
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Russia ,
Terrorist Acts ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Ukraine ,
US State Departments ,
Venezuela ,
Virtual Currency
On January 29, 2024, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued a proposed rule to prevent foreign actors from using U.S. cloud computing services for malicious cyber activities. The proposal...more
2/14/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
IaaS ,
Know Your Customers ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Proposed Rules ,
U.S. Commerce Department
After two years of aggressive sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine, the United States has broadly expanded those sanctions to threaten foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that support Russia’s...more
As discussed in our September 2023 Lawfare article, the Biden administration’s first-of-its-kind outbound investment review program seeks to limit outbound investments by U.S. investors in Chinese developers of certain...more
12/15/2023
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Due Diligence ,
Export Administration Regulations (EAR) ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Investment ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology ,
U.S. Treasury
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently provided fresh insights into upcoming regulatory changes to key Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) exemptions and discussed new areas of concern. These insights were shared at...more
Singapore has joined the trend of countries exercising greater oversight over investments in domestic entities in strategically important sectors. The Significant Investments Review Act (the “Bill”), introduced on November 3,...more
The Biden administration issued a widely anticipated executive order on artificial intelligence (“AI”) earlier this week. The Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence...more
11/6/2023
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
IaaS ,
National Security ,
NIST ,
Office of Science ,
OMB ,
Risk Management ,
Secretary of Commerce ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector ,
Transparency
On August 9, 2023, President Biden issued a long-anticipated executive order (EO) to address investments by U.S. persons in companies that engage with certain categories of technology and products located in the People’s...more
8/11/2023
/ Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
China ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Investment ,
Intelligence Services ,
Joe Biden ,
Microchip Technology ,
National Security ,
PRC ,
Screening Procedures ,
Semiconductors ,
Technology Sector
On July 11, 2023, the UK’s Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (“FIRS”) became law. As part of the National Security Act 2023, FIRS requires registration of arrangements intended to influence UK politics at the direction of...more
In July 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the “Committee”) released its Annual Report to Congress covering calendar year 2022. Although the Report’s data lags a bit, given we are eight...more