In April 2024, the UK Government published its response to the Cabinet Office's 'call for evidence' on the National Security and Investment Act 2021. The call for evidence was an invitation to submit views on how the NSIA...more
4 January 2023 marked the one-year anniversary of the coming into force of the UK's National Security and Investment Act. We take a look at decisional practice to date and the lessons learned from the regime so far....more
On 1 September, the European Commission (EC) issued its Second Annual Report under Article 5(4) of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) Screening Regulation along with an EC Staff Working Document (SWD). The Report covers the...more
On 20 July 2022, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy issued the first prohibition under the National Security and Investment Act 2021. We consider the lessons learned from this milestone and...more
The National Security and Investment Act introduces a mandatory obligation to secure clearance for certain types of transactions -
On January 4, 2021, the long-anticipated National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA)...more
The European Commission (EC) issued its first Annual Report pursuant to Article 5(3) of the Screening Regulation on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the EU on 23 November 2021. The Report provides transparency around the...more
11/29/2021
/ Annual Reports ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
EU ,
EU Screening Regulation ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Investors ,
Member State ,
Popular ,
Transparency
Having received Royal Assent on 29 April 2021, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy ("SoS") has announced that the investment-screening regime envisaged by the National Security and Investment...more
In November 2020, the UK published a draft of its new National Security and Investment Bill ("NSIB"), heralding the introduction of a new regime for reviewing investments on national security grounds. The Bill introduced a...more
3/9/2021
/ BEIS ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Energy Sector ,
Foreign Investment ,
Maritime Transport ,
Merger Controls ,
National Security ,
Public Communications ,
Public Contracts ,
Supply Chain ,
UK
The UK has published a draft of its new National Security and Investment Bill, together with explanatory notes, heralding the introduction of a new regime for reviewing investments in the UK. The new regime would introduce,...more
On 11 November 2020, the government announced the details of its proposals for national security-based review of investments in the UK, in the form of the National Security and Investment Bill ("NSIB").
Protectionism is a...more
The UK has outlined the details of its new National Security and Investment Bill, heralding the introduction of a new regime for foreign direct investments in the UK. The new regime would introduce, for the first time, a...more
One-
The UK has championed an open and dynamic market economy, including foreign direct investment ("FDI") into the UK, ever since political theorists such as Adam Smith argued the benefits of free trade over mercantilism...more
FDI restrictions have been on the political agenda in Europe and further afield for at least the past year, and following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the changed economic landscape, the approach in jurisdictions across the...more
7/20/2020
/ Biotechnology ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Adversaries ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Global Dealmaking ,
Investors ,
Medical Research ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
Political Parties ,
Reputation Management
The UK government has tabled changes to the Enterprise Act 2002 to expand the circumstances in which the government will be empowered to review foreign takeovers of UK companies. The new rules will allow the government to...more
6/23/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enterprise Act 2002 ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Goods or Services ,
Merger Controls ,
National Security ,
Public Health Emergency ,
UK
On 17 June 2020, the European Commission published a White Paper seeking views on three powerful new tools to control the acquisitions and activities of foreign subsidised companies in the EU:1 (i) a general ex post control...more
6/19/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Foreign Subsidiaries ,
Merger Controls ,
Mergers ,
Public Consultations ,
Screening Procedures ,
WTO
Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been a growing and global trend of established Western economies increasingly scrutinising foreign investment in key sectors. FDI restrictions have been on the...more
5/29/2020
/ Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) ,
Blocked Mergers ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
EU ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Member State ,
Mergers ,
National Security ,
National Security Review Proceedings ,
Non-EU Investors ,
Popular
National security interventions have largely been confined to defense-related transactions -
Since mid-2018, there have been a number of important changes (actual and proposed) to legislation permitting intervention by...more
1/9/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Defense Sector ,
Dual Use Goods ,
Enterprise Act 2002 ,
Foreign Acquisitions ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Foreign Investment ,
Intervention Notices ,
National Security ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Interest ,
Secretary of State ,
UK ,
UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)