CELIS Blog

The CELIS Blog: Fueling the Conversation on Economic Security. The CELIS Blog is a unique forum for current debates on international investment control and economic security law and practice more broadly. It brings the latest developments and analysis to you. From economic security (law) experts – to economic security (law) experts.

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CELIS–Arnold & Porter Blog Series on Investment Security x Investment Arbitration

Introducing the CELIS–Arnold & Porter Initiative on Investment Security x Investment Arbitration

Authors: Steffen Hindelang (Uppsala University; CELIS Institute), Helene Schramm (CELIS Institute) and Liam McGrath (CELIS Institute) Most international rules governing foreign investment still breathe the air of the liberal, if ...
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Constraints on the State’s Right to Screen Foreign Investments Prior to Market Entry

Authors: Steffen Hindelang (Uppsala University; CELIS Institute), Helene Schramm (CELIS Institute) and Liam McGrath (CELIS Institute)    Introduction  As a starting point, a State enjoys broad authority to regulate the admission of foreign investment ...
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Post-Establishment Phase: FDI Screening Decisions and the Treatment of Retroactive Measures in Investment Arbitration

Authors: Bart Wasiak (Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer (UK) LLP) and Naina Gupta (Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer (UK) LLP)    Introduction  Decisions concerning the screening of foreign direct investments (“FDI”) are often taken at the post-establishment phase—after ...
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Shielding Foreign Investment Screening from Challenge under Investment Treaties

Author: Dr. Joshua Paine (University of Bristol)    Introduction  This post considers how States can design international investment agreements (“IIAs”) to prevent foreign investment screening measures from being subject to successful ...
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CELIS Special Blog Series on the Revision of the FDI Screening Regulation

Introducing: The Foreign (Direct) Investment Screening Regulation – A blog series on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452

Part I in the CELIS Blog Series on the Revision of the FDI Screening Regulation. Autors: Lena Hornkohl (University of Vienna)[1], Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels), Floor Doppen (University of ...
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Tug-of-War? Determining the mandatory scope for the new FDI Screening Regulation

Part 2 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452. Authors:  Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels), Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp), Leonard von Rummel (Partner, Blomstein) ...
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To Screen or not to Screen? Defining the Deals that Count

Part 3 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452. Authors:  Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels), Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp), Kaarli Eichhorn (Antitrust Partner, Jones ...
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The Devil is in the Details – The Real Screening Report

Part 4 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/452. Authors: Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp), Andrew Hill (AmCham EU, Brussels) Introduction The Commission published its 5th ...
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The Elephant in the Room: Subsidiarity in Investment Screening in the EU

Part 5 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/45 Authors: Andrew Hill (AmCham EU[1]), and Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp) Introduction White smoke poured over ...
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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, What’s the Outcome of the Trilogue?

Part 6 in the CELIS blogseries on the revision of FDI Screening Regulation 2019/45 Authors: Andrew Hill (Amcham Europe), and Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp) Introduction The clock has started ...
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CELIS–L&G Blog Series

Introducing: the CELIS-L&G Blogseries

Welcome, readers, to the inaugural blog post of a new collaboration between the academic journal Law & Geoeconomics (L&G) and the CELIS Institute. To set the tone, we decided to ...
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Proxies, Partners, or Opponents? Rethinking Business–Government Relations in Geoeconomic Competition

Authors: Olivier Schmitt (Royal Danish Defence College), Anna Vlasiuk Nibe (University of Southern Denmark) All articles in Law & Geoeconomics are available free of charge via Brill using the access token LGEO4U until 31 ...
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Why Economic Security Depends on Bureaucracy: The Hidden Side of Derisking

Authors:  M. Di Giulio (Associate Professor, Università di Genova), F. Baraldi (Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), and M. Sguazzini (Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Università di Genova) This blog is part ...
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Can – and should – the EU align with US economic security policy?

Varg Folkman (Policy Analyst, the European Policy Centre) Introduction Back during Europe's summer of discontent in 2025, it went somewhat overlooked -  amidst the larger trade story -  that the ...
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The State of Exception in EU Investment Law

Author: Jochem de Kok (Affiliate Fellow at the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance of the University of Amsterdam and Senior Associate at A&O Shearma) This blog post is ...
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Regulating Critical Minerals and Economic Security in South America: Brazil, Chile, and Argentina in Comparative Perspective

Authors: Natália de Lima Figueiredo (Assistant Professor, Federal University of São Paolo) & Michelle Ratton Sanchez Badin (Associate Professor, FGV São Paulo School of Law) Introduction[1] "Economic security" has quickly ...
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The Small Yard Problem: How America and Japan De-Risk from China

Author: Timothy Cichanowicz (PhD Candidate, University of Kansas) This blog is part of the CELIS-L&G special series. All articles in Law & Geoeconomics are available free of charge via Brill using the ...
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Supply Chain Secondary Sanctions: How China Weaponised Lithuania’s Trade Links

Author: Verónica Fraile del Álamo (PhD Researcher, Australian National University) & Darren J. Lim (Senior Lecturer, Australian National University) This blog is part of the CELIS-L&G special series. All articles ...
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Latest Blog Posts

Investment Screening in the Netherlands: Proposed Expansion and Insights into Council Negotiations

By Jochem de Kok, Senior Associate, A&O Shearman Overview The Dutch Government has proposed an expansion of the investment screening regime. The expansion introduces a mandatory screening requirement for certain investments in artificial intelligence, advanced materials, nanotechnology, sensor and navigation technology, biotechnology, and nuclear technology for medical use (the Dutch Proposal). The Dutch Proposal aligns with broader EU efforts to ...
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Book Launch: The Age of Open Strategic Autonomy

The CELIS Institute proudly announces the lauch of the conference volume "The Age of Open Strategic Autonomy" by Jonas Fechter and Janosch Wiesenthal (CELIS Institute Deputy Assistant Directors and Blog Editors). In order to overcome the geo-economic challenges of the present, the European Union has developed the concept of Open Strategic Autonomy, which aims in particular to strengthen the European ...
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CELIS Update on Investment Screening and Economic Security – January 2025

by Helene Schramm with the help of intern Surbhi Gupta   ECONOMIC SECURITY STRATEGIES   European Union – Commission Recommendation calling on EU Member States to review outbound investments into non EU-countries As Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regimes have expanded globally in recent years, concerns have also risen about the economic security risks posed by outbound investments, especially in critical ...
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Romania’s strategic energy independence: a turning point in FDI Screening

By Raluca Maxim, Senior Associate, 360Competition "Energy blackmail must remain a sad memory of the past." With this statement, Romania's Ministry of Energy underscored its resolve to safeguard national and European energy security in flagging MVM Group's proposed acquisition of E.ON Energie Romania's gas and electricity supply division before the Commission for the Examination of Foreign Direct Investments (CEISD). The ...
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Empowering the Forgotten: Competitors’ Rights and Remedies under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation

By Alessandro Carpi, Associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP (Brussels) The Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) is a new instrument adopted to protect the internal market from the distortive effects of public intervention. While the FSR resembles existing competition and trade tools, it differs notably in how it addresses complaints from competitors. Indeed, the FSR lacks a formal complaint ...
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Latest Trends in Czech FDI Screening

By Jan Kupčík, Head of Competition, Foreign Trade & EU, Schoenherr Czech Republic The Czech Republic's FDI screening regime has been in place since 2021. While the screenings remain fully confidential, annual reports of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) allow us to deduct some of the enforcement trends and structure of cases that have been notified. This analysis ...
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An overview of the U.S. outbound screening program and considerations for private and public actors

By John Kabealo, Founding Partner, Kabealo PLLC On October 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury finalized its highly anticipated regulations to implement Executive Order 14105, Regulating outbound U.S. investments in countries and sectors that may pose national security concerns for the United States. The regulations finalize the draft regulations published June 21, 2024 and took effect January 2, ...
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CELIS Update on Investment Screening – December 2024

European Union – European Commission refers the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failure to terminate intra-EU BITs On 16 December 2024, the European Commission decided to refer the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to terminate its Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with six European Union ...
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2024 Year-in-Review I Holiday Break

By Kilian Wagner (CELIS Blog Editor, University of Vienna) I. 2024 - Economic Security Developments in Review With a busy year coming to an end, it is time to take stock of the main developments in the area of economic security from an EU perspective. A number of new policy initiatives have been launched in 2024, while we can also ...
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CELIS Update on Investment Screening – November 2024

Global – Publication of 31st UNCTAD-OECD Report on G20 Investment Measures On 13 November 2024, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the 31st Report on G20 Investment Measures (“Report”). The Report documents measures taken by the G20 governments between 16 October 2023 and 15 October 2024. It is observed ...
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CELIS Blog Editors

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The CELIS Blog always welcomes posts from economic security professionals that address current issues in international investment screening and economic security law and practice. Would you like to contribute to the Blog? Please contact our editors: blog@celis.institute

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