CELIS Blog

Wessel Geursen, CELIS Country Reporter for the Netherlands, examines the interaction between national investment screening legislation on the one hand and EU law on the other. He focuses on the possible tension between the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) and free movement provisions in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

Germany - Second Amendment to Ordinance on the Designation of Critical Infrastructures enters into force and will cause more FDI Screening On 1 January 2022, the second amendment to the Ordinance on the Designation of Critical Infrastructures ("BSI-KritisV") entered into force. The amendment constitutes an overhaul of the ordinance, which significantly lowers the thresholds that have to be met in ...

Andrea Sacco Ginevri, CELIS Country Reporter for Italy, and Federico Riganti, CELIS Assistant Country Reporter for Italy, shortly brief us on the extension of certain restrictions on FDI in Italy.

UK – Further secondary legislation intended to clarify certain aspects under the National Security and Investment Act published On 16 November 2021, the government published further secondary legislation to clarify certain aspects under the National Security and Investment Act, the latter entering into force on 4 January 2022. The secondary legislation sets out the acquisitions of qualifying entities subject to ...

EU – Launch of consultation platform on the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) On 18 October 2021, following the inaugural meeting in September, the European Union and the United States set up an online consultation platform for stakeholders to involve in shaping the transatlantic cooperation under the TTC. The platform will allow stakeholders to share their views and make ...

Japan – Notification obligation for investments in critical minerals The Ministry of Finance as well as other Ministries confirmed that foreign investors of three new “core business sectors” that plan to invest in critical minerals will be required to file a prior notification from 5 November 2021 under new rules in the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act. These sectors ...

Luxembourg – Minister for Foreign and European Affairs submits Bill on Investment Screening On 15 September 2021, the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs has submitted a bill “establishing a national screening mechanism for foreign direct investment that may affect security or public order” for the purpose of implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/452. The Bill concerns investors from third countries that ...

EU – CJEU rules intra-EU investment arbitration under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) to be incompatible with EU law On 2 September 2021, the CJEU issued its ruling in Case C‑741/19 (Republic of Moldova v Komstroy) finding that Article 26 of the ECT is not applicable to intra-EU investment disputes due to a violation of EU law, especially the principle ...

Australia – The Treasury completes consultations on foreign investment reforms On 31 August 2021, the Treasury has completed its consultation process of recent reforms on foreign investment in 2020. In order to evaluate the reforms, the Treasury invited stakeholders to submit written statements on key elements such as national security, compliance, streamlining and fees. The overall evaluation is required to ...

Phil Baumann, CELIS Country Reporter for Switzerland,  has translated and shortened the press release of of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs’ (SECO) dated 25 August 2021.