Sponsors (4)
The bill increases legal predictability for accused parties and speeds enforcement timelines, but does so by imposing a 10-year cap that can block criminal prosecutions and civil remedies for long-running or hard-to-detect export-control violations.
Government contractors and financial institutions gain clearer legal certainty because civil or criminal actions for export-control violations must start within 10 years and a "charging letter" counts as the start of a civil case.
Enforcement agencies and federal employees get a clear deadline to investigate and bring cases, which can focus investigative resources and encourage timelier prosecutions.
Prosecutors could be barred from bringing criminal charges for complex, cross-border export-control crimes that take longer than 10 years to investigate, which may weaken national security enforcement and leave taxpayers exposed to unprosecuted harms.
Victims (including government contractors and financial institutions) may lose the ability to obtain civil remedies for long-running or covert export-control violations discovered after 10 years.
If violations are only discovered after the 10-year window, wrongdoers could avoid penalties, reducing deterrence and potentially imposing economic costs on middle-class families and taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 1 section of legislative text.
Sets a 10-year statute of limitations for civil and criminal enforcement under the federal export-control provision, with charging letters counting for civil commencement.
Introduced April 6, 2026 by Ryan Mackenzie · Last progress April 6, 2026
Creates a 10-year time limit for both civil and criminal enforcement actions under the federal export-control provision at 50 U.S.C. 4819. For civil cases, a lawsuit or administrative enforcement must start within 10 years of the violation (and issuing a charging letter counts as starting the case); for criminal prosecutions, an indictment or charging must occur within 10 years after the last date of the violation.