CFIUS Proposes Fee Structure For Voluntary Notices

On March 9, 2020, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the Committee), published a proposed rule to impose, for the first time, fees on parties to foreign investment transactions who request that CFIUS review their transaction under Section 721 of the Defense Authorization Act (Section 721).¹ Such CFIUS reviews enable the parties to "covered transactions" under Section 721 to obtain CFIUS's assurance that proceeding with the transaction will not be blocked or limited by the President for national security purposes. Since 1988, CFIUS has been required to conduct such reviews upon receipt of a "notice" from the parties to a covered transaction, which often is an extensive process involving the numerous federal agencies that are members of CFIUS. Under the proposed rule, CFIUS would require fixed filing fees for certain voluntary notices based on the expected value of the transaction.