Regulations last checked for updates: Apr 27, 2025
Title 28 - Judicial Administration last revised: Apr 18, 2025
§ 202.301 - Prohibited data-brokerage transactions.
(a) Prohibition. Except as otherwise authorized pursuant to subparts E or H of this part or any other provision of this part, no U.S. person, on or after the effective date, may knowingly engage in a covered data transaction involving data brokerage with a country of concern or covered person.
(b) Examples—(1) Example 1. A U.S. subsidiary of a company headquartered in a country of concern develops an artificial intelligence chatbot in the United States that is trained on the bulk U.S. sensitive personal data of U.S. persons. While not its primary commercial use, the chatbot is capable of reproducing or otherwise disclosing the bulk U.S. sensitive personal health data that was used to train the chatbot when responding to queries. The U.S. subsidiary knowingly licenses subscription-based access to that chatbot worldwide, including to covered persons such as its parent entity. Although licensing use of the chatbot itself may not necessarily “involve access” to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data, the U.S. subsidiary knows or should know that the license can be used to obtain access to the U.S. persons' bulk sensitive personal training data if prompted. The licensing of access to this bulk U.S. sensitive personal data is data brokerage because it involves the transfer of data from the U.S. company (i.e., the provider) to licensees (i.e., the recipients), where the recipients did not collect or process the data directly from the individuals linked or linkable to the collected or processed data. Even though the license did not explicitly provide access to the data, this is a prohibited transaction because the U.S. company knew or should have known that the use of the chatbot pursuant to the license could be used to obtain access to the training data, and because the U.S. company licensed the product to covered persons.
(2) [Reserved]
§ 202.302 - Other prohibited data-brokerage transactions involving potential onward transfer to countries of concern or covered persons.
(a) Prohibition. Except as otherwise authorized pursuant to this part, no U.S. person, on or after the effective date, may knowingly engage in any transaction that involves any access by a foreign person to government-related data or bulk U.S. sensitive personal data and that involves data brokerage with any foreign person that is not a covered person unless the U.S. person:
(1) Contractually requires that the foreign person refrain from engaging in a subsequent covered data transaction involving data brokerage of the same data with a country of concern or covered person; and
(2) Reports any known or suspected violations of this contractual requirement in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) Reporting known or suspected violations—(1) When reports are due. U.S. persons shall file reports within 14 days of the U.S. person becoming aware of a known or suspected violation.
(2) Contents of reports. Reports on known or suspected violations shall include the following, to the extent the information is known and available to the person filing the report at the time of the report:
(i) The name and address of the U.S. person reporting the known or suspected violation of the contractual requirement in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section;
(ii) A description of the known or suspected violation, including:
(A) Date of known or suspected violation;
(B) Description of the data-brokerage transaction referenced in paragraph (a) of this section;
(C) Description of the contractual provision prohibiting the onward transfer of the same data to a country of concern or covered person;
(D) Description of the known or suspected violation of the contractual obligation prohibiting the foreign person from engaging in a subsequent covered data transaction involving the same data with a country of concern or a covered person;
(E) Any persons substantively participating in the transaction referenced in paragraph (a) of this section;
(F) Information about the known or suspected persons involved in the onward data transfer transaction, including the name and location of any covered persons or countries of concern;
(G) A copy of any relevant documentation received or created in connection with the transaction; and
(iii) Any other information that the Department of Justice may require or any other information that the U.S. person filing the report believes to be pertinent to the known or suspected violation or the implicated covered person.
(3) Additional contents; format and method of submission. Reports required by this section must be submitted in accordance with this section and with subpart L of this part.
(c) Examples—(1) Example 1. A U.S. business knowingly enters into an agreement to sell bulk human genomic data to a European business that is not a covered person. The U.S. business is required to include in that agreement a limitation on the European business' right to resell or otherwise engage in a covered data transaction involving data brokerage of that data to a country of concern or covered person. Otherwise, the agreement would be a prohibited transaction.
(2) Example 2. A U.S. company owns and operates a mobile app for U.S. users with available advertising space. As part of selling the advertising space, the U.S. company provides the bulk precise geolocation data, IP address, and advertising IDs of its U.S. users' devices to an advertising exchange based in Europe that is not a covered person. The U.S. company's provision of this data to the advertising exchange is data brokerage and a prohibited transaction unless the U.S. company obtains a contractual commitment from the advertising exchange not to engage in any covered data transactions involving data brokerage of that same data with a country of concern or covered person.
(3) Example 3. A U.S. business knowingly enters into an agreement to buy bulk human genomic data from a European business that is not a covered person. This provision does not require the U.S. business to include any contractual limitation because the transaction does not involve access by the foreign person.
§ 202.303 - Prohibited human `omic data and human biospecimen transactions.
Except as otherwise authorized pursuant to this part, no U.S. person, on or after the effective date, may knowingly engage in any covered data transaction with a country of concern or covered person that involves access by that country of concern or covered person to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data that involves bulk human `omic data, or to human biospecimens from which bulk human `omic data could be derived.
§ 202.304 - Prohibited evasions, attempts, causing violations, and conspiracies.
(a) Prohibition. Any transaction on or after the effective date that has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this part is prohibited. Any conspiracy formed to violate the prohibitions set forth in this part is prohibited.
(b) Examples—(1) Example 1. A U.S. data broker seeks to sell bulk U.S. sensitive personal data to a foreign person who primarily resides in China. With knowledge that the foreign person is a covered person and with the intent to evade the regulations, the U.S. data broker invites the foreign person to travel to the United States to consummate the data transaction and transfer the bulk U.S. sensitive personal data in the United States. After completing the transaction, the person returns to China with the bulk U.S. sensitive personal data. The transaction in the United States is not a covered data transaction because the person who resides in China is a U.S. person while in the United States (unless that person was individually designated as a covered person pursuant to § 202.211(a)(5), in which case their covered person status would remain, even while in the United States, and the transaction would be a covered data transaction). However, the U.S. data broker has structured the transaction to evade the regulation's prohibitions on covered data transactions with covered persons. As a result, this transaction has the purpose of evading the regulations and is prohibited.
(2) Example 2. A Russian national, who is employed by a corporation headquartered in Russia, travels to the United States to conduct business with the Russian company's U.S. subsidiary, including with the purpose of obtaining bulk U.S. sensitive personal data from the U.S. subsidiary. The U.S. subsidiary is a U.S. person, the Russian corporation is a covered person, and the Russian employee is a covered person while outside the United States but a U.S. person while temporarily in the United States (unless that Russian employee was individually designated as a covered person pursuant to § 202.211(a)(5), in which case their covered person status would remain, even while in the United States, and the transaction would be a covered data transaction). With knowledge of these facts, the U.S. subsidiary licenses access to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data to the Russian employee while in the United States, who then returns to Russia. This transaction has the purpose of evading the regulations and is prohibited.
(3) Example 3. A U.S. subsidiary of a company headquartered in a country of concern collects bulk precise geolocation data from U.S. persons. The U.S. subsidiary is a U.S. person, and the parent company is a covered person. With the purpose of evading the regulations, the U.S. subsidiary enters into a vendor agreement with a foreign company that is not a covered person. The vendor agreement provides the foreign company access to the data. The U.S. subsidiary knows (or reasonably should know) that the foreign company is a shell company, and knows that it subsequently outsources the vendor agreement to the U.S. subsidiary's parent company. This transaction has the purpose of evading the regulations and is prohibited.
(4) Example 4. A U.S. company collects bulk personal health data from U.S. persons. With the purpose of evading the regulations, the U.S. company enters into a vendor agreement with a foreign company that is not a covered person. The agreement provides the foreign company access to the data. The U.S. company knows (or reasonably should know) that the foreign company is a front company staffed primarily by covered persons. The U.S. company has not complied with either the security requirements in § 202.248 or other applicable requirements for conducting restricted transactions as detailed in subpart J of this part. This transaction has the purpose of evading the regulations and is prohibited.
(5) Example 5. A U.S. online gambling company uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to analyze collected bulk covered personal identifiers to identify users based on impulsivity for targeted advertising. The algorithm is trained on bulk covered personal identifiers and may reveal that raw data. A U.S. subsidiary of a company headquartered in a country of concern knows that the algorithm can reveal the training data. For the purpose of evasion, the U.S. subsidiary licenses the derivative algorithm from the U.S. online gambling company for the purpose of accessing bulk sensitive personal identifiers from the training data that would not otherwise be accessible to the parent company and shares the algorithm with the parent company so that the parent company can obtain the bulk covered personal identifiers. The U.S. subsidiary's licensing transaction with the parent company has the purpose of evading the regulations and is prohibited.
§ 202.305 - Knowingly directing prohibited or restricted transactions.
(a) Prohibition. Except as otherwise authorized pursuant to this part, no U.S. person, on or after the effective date, may knowingly direct any covered data transaction that would be a prohibited transaction or restricted transaction that fails to comply with the requirements of subpart D of this part and all other applicable requirements under this part, if engaged in by a U.S. person.
(b) Examples—(1) Example 1. A U.S. person is an officer, senior manager, or equivalent senior-level employee at a foreign company that is not a covered person, and the foreign company undertakes a covered data transaction at that U.S. person's direction or with that U.S. person's approval when the covered data transaction would be prohibited if performed by a U.S. person. The U.S. person has knowingly directed a prohibited transaction.
(2) Example 2. Several U.S. persons launch, own, and operate a foreign company that is not a covered person, and that foreign company, under the U.S. persons' operation, undertakes covered data transactions that would be prohibited if performed by a U.S. person. The U.S. persons have knowingly directed a prohibited transaction.
(3) Example 3. A U.S. person is employed at a U.S.-headquartered multinational company that has a foreign affiliate that is not a covered person. The U.S. person instructs the U.S. company's compliance unit to change (or approve changes to) the operating policies and procedures of the foreign affiliate with the specific purpose of allowing the foreign affiliate to undertake covered data transactions that would be prohibited if performed by a U.S. person. The U.S. person has knowingly directed prohibited transactions.
(4) Example 4. A U.S. bank processes a payment from a U.S. person to a covered person, or from a covered person to a U.S. person, as part of that U.S. person's engagement in a prohibited transaction. The U.S. bank has not knowingly directed a prohibited transaction, and its activity would not be prohibited (although the U.S. person's covered data transaction would be prohibited).
(5) Example 5. A U.S. financial institution underwrites a loan or otherwise provides financing for a foreign company that is not a covered person, and the foreign company undertakes covered data transactions that would be prohibited if performed by a U.S. person. The U.S. financial institution has not knowingly directed a prohibited transaction, and its activity would not be prohibited.
(6) Example 6. A U.S. person, who is employed at a foreign company that is not a covered person, signs paperwork approving the foreign company's procurement of real estate for its operations. The same foreign company separately conducts data transactions that use or are facilitated by operations at that real estate location and that would be prohibited transactions if performed by a U.S. person, but the U.S. employee has no role in approving or directing those separate data transactions. The U.S. person has not knowingly directed a prohibited transaction, and the U.S. person's activity would not be prohibited.
(7) Example 7. A U.S. company owns or operates a submarine telecommunications cable with one landing point in a foreign country that is not a country of concern and one landing point in a country of concern. The U.S. company leases capacity on the cable to U.S. customers that transmit bulk U.S. sensitive personal data to the landing point in the country of concern, including transmissions as part of prohibited transactions. The U.S. company's ownership or operation of the cable does not constitute knowingly directing a prohibited transaction, and its ownership or operation of the cable would not be prohibited (although the U.S. customers' covered data transactions would be prohibited).
(8) Example 8. A U.S. person engages in a vendor agreement involving bulk U.S. sensitive personal data with a foreign person who is not a covered person. Such vendor agreement is not a restricted or prohibited transaction. The foreign person then employs an individual who is a covered person and grants them access to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data without the U.S. person's knowledge or direction. There is no covered data transaction between the U.S. person and the covered person, and there is no indication that the parties engaged in these transactions with the purpose of evading the regulations (such as the U.S. person having knowingly directed the foreign person's employment agreement with the covered person or the parties knowingly structuring a restricted transaction into these multiple transactions with the purpose of evading the prohibition). The U.S. person has not knowingly directed a restricted transaction.
(9) Example 9. A U.S. company sells DNA testing kits to U.S. consumers and maintains bulk human genomic data collected from those consumers. The U.S. company enters into a contract with a foreign cloud-computing company (which is not a covered person) to store the U.S. company's database of human genomic data. The foreign company hires employees from other countries, including citizens of countries of concern who primarily reside in a country of concern, to manage databases for its customers, including the U.S. company's human genomic database. There is no indication of evasion, such as the U.S. company knowingly directing the foreign company's employment agreements or the U.S. company knowingly engaging in and structuring these transactions to evade the regulations. The cloud-computing services agreement between the U.S. company and the foreign company would not be prohibited or restricted because that transaction is between a U.S. person and a foreign company that does not meet the definition of a covered person. The employment agreements between the foreign company and the covered persons would not be prohibited or restricted because those agreements are between foreign persons.
source: 90 FR 1706, Jan. 8, 2025, unless otherwise noted.
cite as: 28 CFR 202.302