Foreign Aid Package Comes With New Sanctions Risks for Companies


这项法案对美国的制裁法律进行了一项重大修改：将监管和检察机构针对制裁违规行为的回溯调查时间延长了一倍。


对制裁违规行为的诉讼时效的变更最初源于南卡罗来纳州共和党参议员Tim Scott发起的法案。

美国总统拜登周三签署的一揽子对外援助法案中包含了一些出人意料的监管条款，在美国对俄罗斯和其他外国对手实施广泛制裁的情况下，这些条款对试图绕过制裁雷区的企业构成挑战。 6park.com
The sprawling foreign aid bill signed into law by President Biden Wednesday has some regulatory surprises for businesses trying to navigate the U.S.’s far-reaching sanctions on Russia and other foreign adversaries. 6park.com
   
尽管外界对援助法案的关注集中在美国为盟友提供的953亿美元资金以及对短视频应用TikTok的潜在禁令上，但这项法案也对美国的制裁法律进行了一项重大修改：将监管和检察机构针对制裁违规行为的回溯调查时间延长了一倍。 6park.com
Although much of the focus on the aid package has been on the $95.3 billion it provides for U.S. allies and on a potential ban of the video app TikTok, the legislation makes a key change to U.S. sanctions laws: It doubles the amount of time that regulators and prosecutors have to investigate sanctions violations. 6park.com
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律师们表示，这项修改是在法案快要颁布的时候才真正引起注意的，但却可能导致针对企业的案件数量增加，罚款金额也会更大。 6park.com
That change, which mostly escaped notice until the legislation was poised to be enacted, could lead to more cases and bigger fines against companies, lawyers say.  6park.com
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“这是一项影响深远的法律修改，发生得悄无声息，让许多制裁从业者和业内人士惊讶不已，”Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld律师事务所合伙人Jason Prince表示。 6park.com
“It’s a very far reaching and impactful statutory change, and it’s one that happened very quietly and has surprised a lot of sanctions practitioners and people in industry,” said Jason Prince, a partner at law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. 6park.com
  
将一些鲜少受到关注的立法内容附加到备受瞩目的法案中，这种做法在美国国会变得越来越常见，周三颁布的对外援助法案就是这样，后者的主要目的是为乌克兰、以色列和台湾提供军事援助，但同时也包含了与国家安全相关的其他诸多条款。 6park.com
It has become increasingly common for lawmakers to tack on more obscure legislative mandates to high-profile bills such as the foreign aid package enacted Wednesday. The bulk of this latest legislation provides for military aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but buried deep in the bill are a slew of other national security-related provisions. 6park.com
   
特别是延长制裁违规行为的诉讼时效，可能会对企业产生重大影响。监管机构和执法部门一直依靠企业来执行美国对俄罗斯和其他国家的制裁，并承诺对不遵守制裁规定的企业实施严厉惩罚。 6park.com
The extension of the statute of limitations for sanctions violations in particular could have a big impact on companies. Regulators and law enforcement authorities have leaned on the business sector to enforce U.S. sanctions on Russia and other countries, and promised stiff penalties for those that don’t. 6park.com
  
美国司法部去年表示，将聘请几十名新检察官，充实调查违反经济制裁和出口管制犯罪行为的部门。联邦检察官经常与财政部外国资产管制办公室 (Office of Foreign Assets Control)合作，后者负责管理制裁名单，并有权实施民事处罚。 6park.com
The Justice Department last year said it was hiring dozens of new prosecutors to staff a section that investigates criminal violations of economic sanctions and export controls. Federal prosecutors often work with the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers sanctions designations and can bring civil penalties. 6park.com
  
当企业发现可疑的违反制裁规则的行为时，通常会对过去五年的行为展开回溯调查，以确定是一次性事件还是系统性问题。律师事务所Miller & Chevalier的Timothy O'Toole表示，现在企业可能需要对过去10年展开回溯调查，包括他们想要收购的企业。 6park.com
When companies discover a possible sanctions violation, they often do a five-year lookback to see if it was a one-off or whether the problem is a systemic one. Companies may now have to do a 10-year lookback, including for companies they are looking to acquire, said Timothy O’Toole, a member of law firm Miller & Chevalier. 6park.com
   
O'Toole表示：“这将增加企业的负担。” 6park.com
“That’s substantially more burdensome,” O’Toole said. 6park.com
 
更长的诉讼时效也可能允许监管机构和检察官对更多的违规行为提出指控，从而导致更高的罚款。 6park.com
A longer statute of limitations could also allow regulators and prosecutors to charge a greater number of violations, which could then lead to bigger fines. 6park.com
 
制裁违规行为的诉讼时效发生的这一变化源于参议员Tim Scott发起的一项立法，这项立法连同其他多个法案被一起纳入了对外援助法。这项被称为“抵制芬太尼法案”的立法要求监管机构采取一系列措施打击非法芬太尼交易。 6park.com
The change in the statute of limitations for sanctions offenses stems from legislation sponsored by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), which was included in the foreign aid package along with a number of other bills. The bill, dubbed the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, requires regulatory agencies to take a number of steps to combat the illegal fentanyl trade. 6park.com
 
具体来说，这项法案敦促财政部外国资产管制办公室对制造和贩运芬太尼进入美国的墨西哥贩毒集团以及生产这种非法阿片类药物的前体化学品的中国公司实施制裁。 6park.com
Specifically, the legislation pushes Treasury’s OFAC to sanction Mexican drug cartels that manufacture and transport fentanyl into the U.S., as well as companies in China that produce the chemical precursors to the illicit opioid.  6park.com
 
该法案还呼吁财政部金融犯罪执法网络(Financial Crimes Enforcement Network)发布有关芬太尼相关洗钱风险的指导意见，包括优先处理银行报告的与芬太尼贩运有关的可疑活动。 6park.com
The act also calls for the department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to issue guidance on fentanyl-related money-laundering risks, including by giving priority to suspicious activity reporting linked to fentanyl trafficking by banks. 6park.com
 
对外援助法案还要求财政部向国会报告新权力的使用情况，要求财政部移交有关其伊朗工作的信息，包括其识别到的伊朗政府在伊朗境外价值超过500万美元的资产。 6park.com
The foreign aid package also contains provisions requiring the Treasury to report to Congress on the use of the new powers. It requires the department to turn over information around its work on Iran, including by identifying assets of the Iranian government outside the country that are valued at more than $5 million. 6park.com
 
曾任外国资产管制办公室首席法律顾问的Akin Gump的Prince表示，诉讼时效的变化不仅会影响制裁违规行为，还会影响对外投资以及信息和通信技术供应链方面的新规定和待决规定。 6park.com
The change in the statute of limitations won’t just affect sanctions violations, but also new and pending regulations around outbound investment and information and communications technology supply chains, Akin Gump’s Prince, who previously served as OFAC’s chief counsel, said. 6park.com
 
他表示，企业和企业顾问还在消化这些新条款。 6park.com
Companies and their advisers are still scrambling to digest all the new provisions, he said. 6park.com
 
“新法案激起了很大的反响，”Prince说。“一些人措手不及，而我们正在想办法驾驭它。” 6park.com
“It has generated a tremendous amount of buzz,” said Prince. “It caught some people off guard, and we are figuring out now how to navigate it.”