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Chase D. Kaniecki

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Chase Kaniecki’s practice focuses on international trade and national security matters, including CFIUS and global foreign direct investment, economic sanctions, export controls, customs, and trade remedies.

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The Russian financial services sector remains a key target of U.S., UK, and EU sanctions.  As discussed below, a number of recent such sanctions against Russia and countermeasures by the Russian government  have further complicated efforts for investors seeking to divest listed securities from Russia.Continue Reading Sanctions on Russian Securities Infrastructure Create Additional Hurdles to Divesting from Russia

On November 18, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), issued a final rule (the “Final Rule”) that enhances CFIUS’s mitigation and enforcement authority.  The Final Rule, which will take effect December 26, 2024 (30 days after the Final Rule was published in the Federal Register), represents a continued evolution of CFIUS’s approach to monitoring, compliance, and enforcement and largely is consistent with the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) issued on April 11, 2024, which we wrote about here.  We previously wrote about the first-ever 2022 CFIUS Enforcement and Penalty Guidelines here.Continue Reading Treasury Issues Final Rule Enhancing CFIUS Mitigation and Enforcement Authority

On November 21, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated additional entities operating in the Russian financial services sector, including Gazprombank Joint Stock Company (“Gazprombank”), the largest and, until November 21, most significant remaining non-sanctioned Russian bank that has served as the primary conduit for processing payments for Russian gas sold to third countries since March 2022.  Specifically, OFAC designated Gazprombank pursuant to Executive Order 14024 (“E.O. 14024”) for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy, and noted that Gazprombank had served as a “conduit for Russia to purchase military materiel,” and also was used by the Russian government to pay military personnel and their families.Continue Reading OFAC Sanctions Gazprombank, Continues to Target Russian Financial Sector and Foreign Financial Institutions

On October 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) issued a long-awaited Final Rule (the “Final Rule”) implementing the U.S. Outbound Investment Security Program (the “Program”).[1] Under the Program, effective January 2, 2025, U.S. persons will be prohibited from engaging in, or required to notify Treasury regarding, a broad range of transactions involving entities engaged in certain activities relating to semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems in “countries of concern” (presently limited to China, Hong Kong, and Macau).

Please click here to read the full alert memorandum.Continue Reading Long-Awaited U.S. Outbound Investment Regime Published, Will Become Effective January 2, 2025

As anticipated by recent media coverage, the Governmental Commission for Control over Foreign Investments (the “Governmental Commission”) published its October 15, 2024 decision tightening conditions for exits by investors from “unfriendly” jurisdictions (i.e., those that have imposed sanctions against Russia) (the “Decision”).  Prior to the Decision, the Governmental Commission had already imposed various conditions when approving sales of equity in Russian companies by parties from “unfriendly” jurisdictions.  Such conditions were typically communicated to the applicants in the excerpts from the minutes of the Governmental Commission meetings.  The Decision lists the revised conditions that should generally be imposed by the Governmental Commission when approving such sale transactions:Continue Reading Russian Countermeasures: The Governmental Commission Tightens Conditions for Exits by Investors From Unfriendly Jurisdictions

On October 21, 2024, an international coalition consisting of the G7 countries—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States[1]—as well as the European Union, Australia, and New Zealand (the “Price Cap Coalition”) issued an updated advisory containing new recommendations and best practices for the maritime oil industry and related sectors[2] relating to promoting responsible practices in the industry, disrupting sanctioned trade, and enhancing compliance with the oil price cap on Russian oil and petroleum products.  We previously wrote about the oil price cap here.Continue Reading Price Cap Coalition Issues Updated Advisory for Maritime Oil Industry

On September 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) June 12, 2024 determination entitled “Prohibition on Certain Information Technology and Software Services” entered into effect.  The determination prohibits the direct or indirect provision to Russia from the United States or by U.S. persons of (1) information technology (“IT”) consultancy and design services and (2) IT support services and cloud-based services for enterprise management software and design and manufacturing software (collectively, the “IT Services Prohibition”).  On September 16, 2024, similarly focused export controls took effect, prohibiting the export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) to Russia and Belarus of certain EAR99 software relating to enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other commercial functions, which were issued earlier by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) on June 12, 2024.Continue Reading U.S., UK, and EU Sanctions Alignment: U.S. IT and Software Sector Service Bans and Export Controls Take Effect as Russia Sanctions Continue to Expand

On September 26, 2024, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was published in the Federal Register to establish regulations that would generally prohibit the sale or import into the United States of certain “connected vehicles” integrating specific pieces of hardware and software, or those components sold separately, with a sufficient nexus to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or Russia (the Proposed Rule).[1]  The Proposed Rule, which was issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), follows an earlier Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) published on March 1, 2024 and addresses comments received in response to the ANPRM.[2]Continue Reading Commerce Takes Next Step in Furtherance of Import Prohibition on Connected Vehicles and Systems from China and Russia

On September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule (IFR) implementing new export controls on quantum computing items and other advanced technologies.[1]  In addition to subjecting these so-called critical and emerging technologies to more stringent export controls, investments by foreign persons into U.S. companies that develop or produce such technologies could be subject to mandatory Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) filing requirements.[2]Continue Reading Commerce Imposes Export Controls on Quantum Computing and Other Advanced Technologies, Expands Scope of CFIUS Mandatory Filing Requirement