50 U.S.C. § 4589 — Definitions

In this subchapter: (1) “Appropriate congressional committees” means, except as provided in section 4584(d) of this title, the House Committees on Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, and Appropriations, and the Senate Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and Appropriations. (2) “Country of concern” means (A) the People’s Republic of China, including Hong Kong and Macau; (B) Cuba; (C) Iran; (D) North Korea; (E) Russia; and (F) Venezuela under Nicolas Maduro Moros. (3) Subject to regulations under this subchapter, “covered foreign person” means a foreign person that (A) is incorporated in, principally located in, or organized under the laws of a country of concern; (B) is a member of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee or the political leadership of a country of concern; (C) is directed or controlled, as regulations define that term, by a country of concern, an entity described in (A) or (B), or that country’s state or government, including its subdivisions, agencies, and instrumentalities; or (D) is owned, directly or indirectly and in total, at least 50 percent by one of those countries, entities, states, or governments. (4)(A) Subject to regulations under this subchapter, “covered national security transaction” means a United States person’s direct or indirect—(i) acquisition of an equity or contingent equity interest in a covered foreign person that the United States person knows then is covered; (ii) loan or similar debt financing to such a person that gives or will give the United States person a profit interest, the right to appoint directors or equivalent, or comparable financial or governance rights typical of equity but not of a loan; (iii) entry into a joint venture anywhere with a person of a country of concern when the United States person knows at entry that the venture will engage, or plans to engage, in prohibited or notifiable technology; (iv) conversion of a contingent or equivalent equity interest, or debt, into an equity interest in a covered foreign person; (v) acquisition, lease, or other development of operations, land, property, or other assets in a country of concern that the United States person knows then will, or plans will, result in (I) establishing a covered foreign person or (II) a person of a country of concern engaging in prohibited or notifiable technology; (vi) knowingly directing a foreign person’s prohibited or notifiable transaction when the United States person knows it would be an activity in clauses (i)–(v) if done by a United States person; (vii) acquiring a limited-partner or equivalent interest in a non-United-States venture-capital, private-equity, fund-of-funds, or other pooled fund when the United States person knows it likely will invest in a person of a country of concern in a notifiable- or prohibited-technology sector and the fund makes a transaction that would be covered if a United States person made it; or (viii) another transaction identified by the Secretary, after consulting the appropriate committees and using public notice and comment under the cited provisions of title 5, that contributes to a country of concern’s military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities. (4)(B) Subject to regulations, “covered national security transaction” does not include—(i) a transaction whose value the Secretary finds de minimis; (ii) a transaction category the Secretary finds in the United States national interest; (iii) an investment in (I) a security traded on an exchange or over the counter in any jurisdiction; (II) a security issued by an SEC-registered investment company, or, if the Secretary of the Treasury elects to include it, by a non-United-States investment company registered with a foreign regulator having comparable oversight and jurisdiction; (III) a limited-partner or equivalent investment in a pooled fund, other than the investment described in (II), if (aa) committed capital, aggregated across the fund’s investment and co-investment vehicles, is no more than a Secretary-determined de minimis amount, or (bb) the investor has a binding contract assuring that its capital will not be used in a transaction that would be covered if a United States person made it; or (IV) a derivative of a security in (I), (II), or (III); (iv) an ancillary transaction by a financial institution as defined in section 5312 of title 31; (v) a United States person’s acquisition of all the interest a covered foreign person owns or holds in an entity or assets outside a country of concern; (vi) a regulated intracompany transfer from a United States parent to a subsidiary in a country of concern, or a transaction with its controlled foreign person that supports operations that are not covered transactions or maintains covered transactions begun before the implementing regulations took effect; (vii) a transaction secondary to a covered transaction, including (I) contracts other than technology or technical-knowledge transfer and procurement of material inputs such as raw materials, (II) bank lending, (III) bank payment processing, clearing, or sending, (IV) underwriting, including temporary equity acquisition solely to facilitate underwriting, (V) debt ratings, (VI) prime brokerage, (VII) global custody, (VIII) equity research or analysis, or (IX) similar services; (viii) an ordinary or administrative business transaction defined by regulation; or (ix) a transaction completed before December 18, 2025. (4)(C) “Ancillary transaction,” subject to the Secretary’s regulations, means (i) processing, settling, clearing, or sending payments and cash transactions; (ii) underwriting, including temporary equity acquisition solely to facilitate it; (iii) credit-rating services; and (iv) services ordinarily part of financial services, such as deposit accounts, direct custody, foreign exchange, remittances, and safe-deposit services. (5) “Foreign person” has the meaning given by regulations under this subchapter. (6) “Knowledge” and “know” mean (A) actual knowledge that a fact or circumstance exists or is substantially certain to occur; (B) awareness of a high probability that it exists or will occur; or (C) reason to know it exists. (7)(A) Subject to regulations, “notifiable technology” means technology in these areas not already covered by technical thresholds in regulations under section 4581: (i) semiconductor technology and microelectronics; (ii) artificial intelligence systems; (iii) quantum information technologies; (iv) high-performance computing and supercomputing; and (v) hypersonic systems. (B) After consultation with the committees and notice and comment under the cited title 5 provisions, and without section 4559’s requirements, the Secretary may by regulation (i) define needed technical parameters for national security or (ii) add and define categories that enable a country of concern’s military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities. (8) “Party,” for a covered national security transaction, has the regulatory meaning. (9) “Person” includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, organized group, legal successor or representative, and any State or local government or agency. (10)(A) Subject to regulations, “prohibited technology” means technology in these areas as regulations specify: (i) advanced semiconductor technology and microelectronics; (ii) artificial intelligence systems; (iii) quantum information technologies; (iv) high-performance computing and supercomputing; and (v) hypersonic systems. (B) After the same consultation and notice-and-comment process, and without section 4559’s requirements, the Secretary may define needed technical parameters or add and define categories that enable a country of concern’s military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities. (11) Unless otherwise provided, “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Treasury. (12) “United States person” means (A) a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence; (B) an entity organized under United States or any United States jurisdiction’s laws, including a foreign branch; or (C) any person in the United States.