The Department of the Treasury, as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), released its Annual Report to Congress for calendar year 2023.
The report highlights key indicators of CFIUS’s activities and provides statistics on transactions evaluated in 2023.
“2023 was a busy year for CFIUS in reviewing transactions for national security risk, monitoring compliance with mitigation agreements, expanding the reach of its jurisdiction, and enforcing against violations of CFIUS legal authorities,” said Assistant Secretary for Investment Security Paul Rosen. “Last year CFIUS sharpened its review and enforcement toolkit while doubling down on efficiency and due diligence in reviewing and investigating covered transactions.”
The report shows that CFIUS is effectively utilizing its authorities and resources. In recent years, CFIUS has enhanced its regulations and processes to review a broader scope of transactions and increased efforts to identify transactions that were not submitted but may raise national security considerations. Additionally, CFIUS has increasingly focused on utilizing and enhancing its enforcement tools.
Key highlights from 2023 include:
– The CFIUS caseload remains significant, even with decreased global merger and acquisition activity in 2023, with a total of 342 notices and declarations of covered transactions or covered real estate transactions.
– In 2023, CFIUS cleared 66 percent of distinct transactions that did not require mitigation measures in either the 30-day assessment period for a declaration or the initial 45-day review period for a notice, an increase from 58 percent in 2022.
– CFIUS assessed or imposed four civil monetary penalties for violations of material provisions of mitigation agreements, double the number previously issued during its nearly 50-year history.
– CFIUS improved its efficiency and case processing by decreasing withdrawn and refiled transactions, which restart the review period, from 24 percent to 18 percent of notices (and from 63 to 43 notices as a total number), marking the first such reduction in five years.
This year’s report reinforces CFIUS’s commitment to protecting national security consistent with the United States’ longstanding open investment policy.
The Annual Report is submitted to Congress pursuant to Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. §4565).
###
