On April 11, 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security announced a proposed rule that would modify regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”). The proposed rule represents the first substantive update to CFIUS’ mitigation and enforcement provisions since implementation of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018, 50 U.S.C. § 4564 and follows CFIUS’ Enforcement Penalty Guidelines issued on October 22, 2022. Our previous blog…

The Commerce Department has published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comments on a proposal to restrict the use of information and communication technologies and services (ICTS) developed or supplied by foreign adversaries (e.g., China) in connected vehicles (CVs), an initiative that could impact virtually all auto makers and their suppliers selling into the US market. To inform its rulemaking, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has requested public comments by…

On February 28, President Biden issued Executive Order 14117 (the EO) directing the US Attorney General and other agencies to promulgate regulations that restrict and, in some cases, prohibit transactions that might involve the sharing of sensitive personal data and government-related data with “countries of concern” (currently China, including Hong Kong and Macau, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela). In tandem, the Department of Justice (DoJ) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM)…

On February 1, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted a limited preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement against two Chinese national plaintiffs of a new Florida law (SB-264) that restricts certain foreign persons from owning real property on grounds that the plaintiffs have a “substantial likelihood” of prevailing in their argument that federal foreign investment regulation pre-empts the state law. This litigation over the 2023 Florida law, which comes at a time…

On May 11, 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) issued a Frequently Asked Question (“FAQ”), which calls into question the use of “springing rights,” a broadly used instrument to expedite financings while complying with mandatory filing requirements. The FAQ addresses the timing for when a filing must be made for a transaction triggering a mandatory filing. Since implementation of the mandatory filing requirements, transaction parties have used springing or deferred…

On October 20, 2022, the US Treasury Department released the first Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) Enforcement and Penalty Guidelines (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines provide visibility into factors CFIUS considers when assessing violations of CFIUS laws and regulations, and determining potential penalties. The Guidelines are applied by the Monitoring and Enforcement office, which is part of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Investment Security. The Guidelines apply when CFIUS assesses the…

On August 2, 2022, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or “the Committee”) released its annual report for calendar year 2021 (the “Annual Report”). The Annual Report provides data concerning transactions filed with CFIUS in 2021, the first full calendar year following the introduction of the implementing regulations for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”). Reflecting the increasingly routine nature of CFIUS, investors from a broad range…

On September 15, 2022, the President issued an Executive Order (“EO”) directing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) to prioritize certain factors in its assessment of risks associated with a foreign investment.  This EO does not modify the CFIUS process or impact its jurisdiction, but it essentially codifies the Biden administration’s approach to CFIUS reviews.  In doing so, the EO provides insight to businesses into how CFIUS will analyze transactions before…

On July 26, 2021, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) released its annual report for calendar year 2020 (the “Annual Report”).  The Annual Report, which provides data on transactions filed with CFIUS in 2020, shows procedural improvements to the CFIUS process following full implementation of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (“FIRRMA”) on February 13, 2020. Short-form declaration filings are up by 35% from 2019 and CFIUS has cleared over…

As of October 15, 2020, the critical technology mandatory filing requirement under the regulations of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) closely tracks US export licensing requirements. This development in the foreign investment space aligns with the US government’s initiative to promote innovation and the protection of US technologies for national security purposes, as set out in the National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies, released on October 15. Filings with…