The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) has published new details and guidance on its enforcement activities on the Department of Treasury’s website, including, for the first time, a comprehensive list of civil monetary penalties it has imposed. CFIUS also provides insight on factors informing the issuance of Determination of Noncompliance Transmittal (“DONT”) Letters, which CFIUS sends to parties that CFIUS has determined violated CFIUS’ regulations or a national security risk-mitigation agreement.

Enforcement Actions That Resulted in Penalties and DONT Letters
CFIUS recently provided new insight into its new enforcement era by publishing on its website a list of eight enforcement actions involving monetary penalties pursuant to Section 721(h) of the Defense Production Act of 1950. CFIUS took into account the objectives of enforcement and national security, among other factors, when assessing these penalties. CFIUS also provided significant new insight via its website regarding its use of DONT Letters, with which CFIUS notifies parties of its determination that they have violated CFIUS’ regulations or a mitigation agreement. A DONT Letter itself does not impose a penalty, but could be a pre-cursor to CFIUS’ issuing a penalty, and will either inform the parties that CFIUS has elected not to issue a penalty or that CFIUS requires additional information to determine whether a penalty is warranted. Even if the DONT Letter does not result in a penalty, CFIUS at a later date could consider the existence of a violation identified in a DONT Letter as an aggravating factor in a subsequent enforcement proceeding.