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

CELIS Update on Investment Screening – October 2024

European Union - European Commission releases Fourth Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union  On 17 October 2024, the European Commission (“EC”) released the Fourth Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (“Report”) for the year 2023. The Report is divided into 4 chapters and based on reports by the ...
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Some Reflections on the Investment Control Regime in Sweden: Unnecessary Obstacles to Legitimate Financing?

By Alexander Tham and Maja Kristiansson-Gran The Swedish Act on Screening of Foreign Direct Investments (the "FDI Act") entered into force on 1 December 2023. The FDI Act is the first of its kind in Sweden, at least in the modern legislative landscape. (Pouya Ghotbi 2023 has given an overview, not only of the FDI Act in itself, but also the ...
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The Swedish Screening of Foreign Direct Investments Act

By Dr. iur. Magnus Schmauch, Louise Sörelind, Martyna Lechowska, Gustav Eiroff Introduction   The Swedish Act on the Screening of Foreign Direct Investments (Sw. lag (2023:560) om granskning av utländska direktinvesteringar) (the "FDI Act") entered into force on 1 December 2023. Closing in on the first anniversary of the FDI Act, Dr. iur. Magnus Schmauch et al., here briefly describe ...
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Protecting EU Sanctions by Invoking the Denial of Benefits Clause of the Energy Charter Treaty

By Johannes Tropper, University of Vienna Introduction Recently, on 24 September 2024, the Secretariat of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), received a communication from the EU and all its member states, except Hungary. According to the notification, they are exercising their right under the ECT to deny the benefits of investment protection under the ECT to Russian-owned/controlled and Belarusian-owned/controlled investors ...
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Balancing Security and Economics: The EU Investment Screening Mechanism

By Floor Doppen (University of Antwerp), Antonio Calcara (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) and Dirk De Bièvre (University of Antwerp) In the EU, Member States and the Commission are increasingly turning to trade and investment tools to address national security issues. In the face of concerns over technology leakage, supply chain resilience, dependencies in critical industries, data security and a more acute ...
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The European Commission’s Fourth Annual Report on FDI Screening

By Sophie Bohnert, CELIS Blog A. Introduction This October is the month of investment screening. Not only did CFIS 2024, hosted by the CELIS Institute and convened by Steffen Hindelang and Roland Stein, take place in Paris (France) from 16 to 18 October 2024. It is also the month in which the European Commission ("EC") usually fulfils its annual reporting ...
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(Bio)Fueled to Combat Climate Change? An Analysis of the WTO Panel Decision in the EU-Palm Oil (Malaysia) Dispute

By Isha Das, University of Passau I. Introduction The Panel report in the EU-Palm Oil (Malaysia) dispute[i] was circulated on 5 March 2024. It is an important addition to the list of environment-related international trade disputes brought before the World Trade Organisation ('WTO'). This is the first time that a WTO Panel has had to deal with measures aiming to ...
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FDI And FSR Enforcement Trends in Europe: July and August 2024 – Hard Times For Chinese Investments In Europe?

Note from the Editors This post was first published on the Baker McKenzie Blog. By Paul Johnson, Pavlo Prokhorov and Beau Maes, all Baker McKenzie This summer was marked by a particular focus and scrutiny by authorities on transactions involving investors from China, which is typically considered a "risk" jurisdiction from an EU FDI and FSR perspective. The four decisions ...
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CFIS 24: Paris Insights – Securing Europe’s Future: Investment Screening and Economic Security in the Context of EU Enlargement

A Note from the Editors The CELIS Blog is launching its very first special series of blog posts ahead of this year's CELIS Forum on Investment Screening (CFIS).  Our Programme Sherpas, promising young academics and practitioners in the field, share their views on the topics we will be discussing in the various panels during CFIS. The views expressed in the ...
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CFIS 24: Paris Insights – Preserving the Battlefield Gap in the Area of Technology: Between Export Control and Outbound Investment Screening 

A Note from the Editors The CELIS Blog is launching its very first special series of blog posts ahead of this year's CELIS Forum on Investment Screening (CFIS).  Our Programme Sherpas, promising young academics and practitioners in the field, share their views on the topics we will be discussing in the various panels during CFIS. CFIS is the flagship event ...
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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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