Treasury disseminates to other
agencies that are members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in
the United States information collected under the regulations from
parties involved in certain foreign acquisitions of a U.S. company,
investment or real estate in order to do a national security
analysis of the acquisition.
The Department of
Treasury (Treasury) is requesting emergency processing of a
revision to OMB Control No. 1505-0121 in order to launch the new
CFIUS Case Management System, featuring an online Public Portal for
external parties to submit CFIUS Declarations and Notices. On
January 17, 2020, Treasury issued final regulations (85 FR 3112 and
85 FR 3158) implementing FIRRMA to include information collections
related to notices and declarations filed with or submitted to the
Committee regarding covered control transactions, covered
investments, and covered real estate transactions. The increased
number of CFIUS declarations and notices expected due to FIRRMA has
created the need for Treasury to build a case management system
that standardizes submission formats, enables faster processing and
handles submissions – which may include sensitive information –
more securely. Currently, declarations (which do not typically
exceed five pages) are submitted to CFIUS via email using fillable
PDF forms available on Treasury.gov. Notices (which may exceed 100
pages) are currently submitted via email as Microsoft Word or Adobe
PDF files and follow no standardized format. The submission of
CFIUS declarations and notices is essential to the mission of the
Treasury Department in strengthening national security. The ability
to collect and process notices and declarations through the Case
Management System will enhance CFIUS’s ability to efficiently
evaluate transactions and manage cases given the Committee’s
expanded scope of review under FIRRMA. It was not possible to have
the system launched at the same time that the final regulations
were issued or include it in the accompanying revision to OMB
Control No. 1505-0121. However, with completion of system
development and launch planned for May 20, 2020, it is not possible
to follow normal clearance procedures under the Paperwork Reduction
Act either. The information required by CFIUS under the current
regulations is not changing; however the new Public Portal will
enable respondents to file their notices and declarations in a more
straightforward and structured manner using an interactive Web
form. The system will also provide greater clarity to respondents
regarding responsive information and minimize the amount of
follow-up that Treasury must conduct to ensure that respondents
have provided all the information required by the CFIUS
regulations. Additionally, the Case Management System will provide
a standardized and secure method for parties to submit sensitive
information. Treasury requests that OMB approve the revision to
1505-0121 by May 15, 2020 in order to assure that the Case
Management System can be launched on schedule.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.