By now, you have skimmed through the proposed FIRRMA regulations issued on September 17 2019, and you have very likely read a dozen summaries of those regulations (with titles like “New Proposed CFIUS Regulations Published” or “Five Things You Have Got to Know About FIRRMA” or even “Drop 10 Pounds in One Week AND Learn About Foreign Investment Restrictions!”), but none of those summaries, including our excellent précis of the regulations, could cover all…

The U.S. Department of Education is just now starting to pay attention to a reporting requirement in the Higher Education Act (HEA) that harkens back to the 1980s. Penalties for failure to properly report can be stark, including imprisonment. While this Administration’s Education Department has typically engaged with the higher education community, its responses to outreach on this recently expanded requirement have been terse.…

On Friday, October 11, 2019, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) opened the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) “duty suspension” process. That process allows companies to petition for suspensions and reductions to the normal duty on qualifying U.S. imports. A successful MTB petition can be very valuable: if the suspension is granted, the importer can save up to $500 thousand per year on import taxes. The deadline to submit a petition is December 10, 2019.…

Key Takeaways: Technology Infrastructure and Data. CFIUS will focus its review on investments in critical Technology, critical Infrastructure, and sensitive personal Data (“TID Businesses”). Critical technologies is defined to include certain items subject to export controls along with emerging and foundational technologies under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. CFIUS provides a very helpful list of critical infrastructure and functions to help assess whether any business is a TID Business. We reproduce most of…

Europe has come up with a nifty plan to help Iran buy and sell stuff outside the reach of U.S. sanctions. The problem is that the plan is a fraud magnet. How do we know? It’s been tried before, and the fraud was epic. The plan is known as the “Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges,” or “INSTEX.” Lots of smart people have been involved in creating the program. Let’s hope they’re not too young…