Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act or better known as CAATSA is one of the major pieces of legislation in the sanctions space. Passed in 2017 with bipartisan support in Congress, this act has provisions against Iran, Russia, and North Korea. 

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It created, among other things, (i) an obligation for the President to impose new sanctions in many different scenarios, as well as, (ii) many reporting obligations for the executive branch.

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Since CAATSA was signed into law, there have been several designations, including designations pursuant to the so-called secondary sanctions provisions.

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It is worth mentioning that following CAATSA, a divergence between U.S. and EU policy with respect to Russia appears which has been deepened by further actions taken in the U.S. namely the NDAA 2020. 

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As the sanctions imposed by CAATSA concern various programs, for more information please refer to Iran, Russia, and North Korea sections. ​