This change applies to violations of sanctions imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA") and the Trading with the Enemy Act ("TWEA"). These sanctions also include the major sanctions regimes against the Russian Federation.

In July 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") issued guidelines clarifying that the new statute of limitations applies to violations committed after April 24, 2019, i.e., violations for which the limitation period had not expired when the amendments became effective. OFAC may bring civil and criminal proceedings for such a violation within the new ten-year period.

The H.R. 815 Act specifies that such proceedings include a preliminary notification of imposed penalty or violation. This gives OFAC significantly more time to investigate violations of the sanctions laws.

OFAC also plans to issue supplemented regulations extending the document retention and record-keeping requirements for sanction-affected transactions from 5 to 10 years.

These changes increase the risk of potential liability for sanctions violation and show once again that the US tighten control over such violations.