BUST FENTANYL Act

Break Up Suspicious Transactions of Fentanyl Act or the BUST FENTANYL Act

This bill revives a requirement for the President to identify foreign opioid traffickers and extends opioid trafficking sanctions to new categories of foreign persons (individuals and entities) whose actions support such trafficking.

Specifically, the bill revives through 2030 a requirement that the President annually submit a report to Congress identifying foreign opioid traffickers. (For those listed in the report, the President must select certain sanctions to impose on them, such as bans on loans, foreign exchange transactions, and property transactions.) The bill also specifies that such reports must prioritize the identification of Chinese nationals and entities involved in the shipment of fentanyl, fentanyl-related chemicals, and fentanyl manufacturing equipment to Mexico or any other country involved in the production of fentanyl trafficked to the United States.

The bill extends such foreign opioid trafficker sanctions to additional categories of foreign persons, including those that have knowingly (1) engaged in significant activities or financial transactions that materially contributed to opioid trafficking; or (2) provided financial, material, or technological support for such activities or transactions.

The bill also authorizes the President to impose these sanctions on foreign government entities, including government owned or controlled financial institutions, that are involved in activities that contribute to opioid trafficking. Additionally, the President may impose property-blocking sanctions on senior officials of these foreign government entities who knowingly facilitate such activities.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov