Hidden in the supplemental emergency appropriation bill (containing support for Israel and Ukraine) that President Biden signed on April 24 is a provision extending the current five-year SoL under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA) to 10 years.

This applies to almost all economic sanctions programs administered by the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). It also affects a number of Department of Commerce-implemented programs authorized under IEEPA, such as the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) Program administered by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). OFAC’s various regulations currently only require that records be kept for five years, but it’s a good guess that OFAC will be amending them shortly to increase that requirement to 10 years.

This change does not impact the SoL under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) or International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), but of course, now that this change has been made, can the US Congress resist going one step further?