On September 11, 2024, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published an Interim Final Rule to amend its Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations under 31 C.F.R. Part 501, which extends recordkeeping requirements for certain transactions from 5 years to 10 years. This Interim Final Rule takes effect on March 12, 2025.
OFAC’s recordkeeping amendment aligns with the extension of the statute of limitations for violations of certain sanctions administered by OFAC that were implemented on April 24, 2024, when President Joseph Biden signed into law the 21st Century Peace through Strength Act (Public Law No. 118-50). A section of this law extended from 5 years to 10 years the statute of limitations for civil and criminal violations under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq. (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act, 50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (TWEA). See Thompson Hine’s Legal Update of May 8, 2024 for additional background. Notably, that expanded 10-year statute of limitations provision applies to any violation that was not time-barred at the time of its enactment, meaning OFAC may now commence an enforcement action for any transaction completed subject to IEEPA or TWEA if the transaction occurred after April 24, 2019.
Because the recordkeeping amendment is an Interim Final Rule, OFAC is accepting public comment on the provisional change. Interested parties may file written comments (i) via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov under Docket No. OFAC-2024-0004; or (ii) via mail to: Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Treasury Annex/Freedman’s Bank Building, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20220, and referencing the above docket number. Any comments must be filed no later than October 15, 2024.