Outbound Investment Screening Becomes a Reality
On August 9, after months of deliberations, President Biden issued a new Executive Order on Addressing United States Investments in Certain National Security Technologies and Products in Countries of Concern (the “EO”). Simultaneously, the Department of the Treasury issued a draft advance notice of proposed rulemaking seeking public comment on the Executive Order’s implementing regulations.
This EO is focused on preventing China, including the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, from developing national security technologies and products. National security technologies and products include items in numerous industry sectors that are critical for Chinese military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities. The targeted industry sectors will include semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence but could be expanded in the future.
Information about when regulations will be issued is available here.