Recordkeeping and document retention

Recordkeeping obligations in Trade and Geopolitical Risk have tightened considerably, driven in part by enforcement postures at the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, both of which have made document retention a live audit issue in sanctions and export control investigations. The European Commission's Foreign Subsidies Regulation has added a parallel documentation layer for M&A and procurement filings, requiring firms to retain records that substantiate subsidy declarations for years beyond transaction close. Compliance teams operating across these jurisdictions are not treating this as a back-office task; they are building retention schedules that map directly to transaction type, counterparty geography, and applicable control regime.