Treasury Seeks Comments on Proposed Rule to Address Threats Posed by Certain US Investments in Countries of Concern

The Department of the Treasury is soliciting public comments on a proposed rule to implement a 2023 executive order that seeks to prevent U.S. outbound investments from being exploited by foreign countries of concern seeking to build sensitive technology products that pose national security risks.

The Treasury said Friday the EO intends to establish a national security program to address threats associated with U.S. outbound investments in countries of concern and identifies semiconductors and microelectronics, artificial intelligence and quantum information technologies as the three categories of national security products that will be covered by the program.

The Treasury’s notice of proposed rulemaking offers details on key aspects and concepts of the national security program’s implementation.

These include a U.S. person’s obligations regarding a covered transaction, the categories of covered transactions and excepted transactions and information that a U.S. individual is required to provide to the Treasury as part of a notification.

The department is asking the public for feedback on notification requirements, the scope of a covered transaction, penalty, enforcement processes for violations and definitions of key terms.

Comments are due Aug. 4.

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