US Government Moves To Regulate Cross-Border Transactions Involving Sensitive Data

In a sweeping, coordinated effort across federal agencies, the US government has taken a giant leap forward to prevent access to data that could be exploited to the detriment of national security. On February 28, 2024, President Biden signed an Executive Order outlining restrictions on foreign access to personal data of US persons and US government-related information, which was accompanied by a fact sheet. The next day, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM; fact sheet here) seeking comment on a regulatory regime that would prohibit or restrict transactions that pose an unacceptable risk of access to and exploitation of sensitive data by "countries of concern" (to include the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela) or related persons. Comments on the proposed rule are due by April 19, 2024.