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The new year comes in the midst of an evolving landscape for economic sanctions, including the transition away from a U.S. administration that has relied on tightening economic sanctions as a key component of a number of foreign policy initiatives. In 2021, boards of directors should be aware of the ongoing implementation of new China-related sanctions, sanctions risks relating to ransomware attacks and the potential sanctions implications of foreign-policy shifts by the Biden administration.…
Continue Reading Developments in U.S. Sanctions and Foreign Investment Regulatory Regimes

Cleary Gottlieb partner Paul Marquardt, counsel Chase Kanieki, and associates Nate Kurcab, Nora McCloskey, and Elise Lane co-authored the United States chapter in Lexology Getting The Deal Through Foreign Investment Review 2021.…
Continue Reading Lexology Getting The Deal Through: Foreign Investment Review 2021

In one of a series of lame-duck sanctions and export control actions rushed into place before the transition to the Biden Administration, on January 5, 2021, President Trump issued an Executive Order Addressing the Threat Posed by Applications and Other Software Developed or Controlled by Chinese Companies (the Executive Order)[1] authorizing the Commerce Department to regulate or prohibit any transaction involving a U.S. person or within the jurisdiction of the United States with persons that develop or control the following Chinese connected software applications, or with their subsidiaries:…
Continue Reading President Trump Authorizes Restrictions on Additional Chinese Applications and Calls for Potential New Export Restrictions on Personal Data; Details to Come

As noted in our previous blog post, Executive Order (EO) 13959 introduced novel sanctions prohibiting U.S. persons from purchasing publicly traded securities (debt or equity) issued by companies designated by the U.S. Government as “Communist Chinese military companies” (CMCs), as well as an ill-defined group of securities “designed to provide economic exposure” to the…

As part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021 (the “NDAA”), Congress has passed the most significant U.S. anti-money laundering (“AML”) legislation since the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, the “Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020” (“AMLA 2020”).

Although President Trump has threatened to veto the NDAA, the majorities supporting the legislation would be sufficient…

Abu Dhabi and Dubai have recently issued their first Foreign direct investment licenses allowing foreign investors to own up to 100% of UAE companies engaged in certain types of activities. Abu Dhabi has also recently adopted its own positive list of economic activities eligible for an FDI License in the emirate, featuring a generous total…

Yesterday, President Trump issued an Executive Order[1] that will, following an initial two-month grace period and a further ten-month wind-down period in which only dispositions are permitted, prohibit U.S. persons (including citizens and U.S. legal entities acting outside the United States and foreign citizens and legal entities acting inside the United States)[2] from engaging in any transactions in publicly traded securities (debt or equity) issued by companies that the U.S. government designates as tied to the Chinese military (Designated Entities), as well as in any securities linked (in an undefined manner) to the targeted Chinese securities.  The 31 current Designated Entities are listed at the end of this note.[3] …
Continue Reading Trump Administration Bans Transactions in Securities of Military-Linked Chinese Companies: Potentially Far-Ranging Consequences Remain Unclear

On November 11, the UK Government proposed a new national security screening regime that would allow the Government to intervene in “potentially hostile” foreign investments that threatened UK national security while “ensuring the UK remains a global champion of free trade and an attractive place to invest.”

If approved by Parliament, the National Security and…

The EU Foreign Direct Investment Regulation came into force this week. It establishes a European framework for the screening of foreign investments into the European Union. In this memorandum we provide an overview of the legislation, and its expected practical impact on foreign investment review in the EU.

Please click here to read the full…

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule (the Final Rule) imposing export controls on additional emerging technologies pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA).[1]  We previously wrote about the process to identify and impose export controls on emerging and foundational technologies under the ECRA, as well as the steps taken in furtherance of that process to date, here.…
Continue Reading BIS Imposes Export Controls on Additional Emerging Technologies; Further Defines Scope of CFIUS Mandatory Notification Requirement