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.
Engage, Share, Contribute: Become part of the conversation. Share your insights, engage with thought-provoking content, and contribute to a blog that influences policy and practice. Whether you're looking to enhance your professional visibility or make an impact in the field, the CELIS Blog welcomes your voice.
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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading German Administrative Courts Take the Plunge – First Rulings on German Investment Screening Procedures and their Time Frame
Authors: Dr. Roland M. Stein (BLOMSTEIN) and Henriette Wohlschläger (BLOMSTEIN) Introduction In light of the prevailing tense global geopolitical climate, investments are no longer regarded exclusively as catalysts for growth and innovation, but instead as ...
Continue reading Between Deadlines and Discretion: Timely Decision-Making in Investment Screening
Authors: Xueji Su (University of Macau) and Alessandro Zocchia (University of Macau) Introduction: The Pocket Veto Phenomenon Investment screening involves a procedurally layered process involving notification, jurisdictional assessment, inter-agency consultation, risk analysis, possible mitigation negotiations, and ...
Continue reading Fair and Equitable Investment Screening
Author: Dr. Bálint Kovács (University of Szeged) Introduction With the widespread adoption of investment screening by Western states, there is increasing evidence as to the ways in which this tool ...
Continue reading Legal Standards, Evidentiary Threshold, Transparency and Due Process in the Context of Investment Screening and Investment Disputes
Author: Jonas Hallberg I. Legal Standards and Evidentiary Threshold Security assessments of a prospective investment necessarily involve an assessment of future contingencies; the evidentiary threshold cannot therefore be set unduly ...
Continue reading Disclosure and Confidentiality in Investment Screening
Author: Dorieke Overduin (Sovereign Arbitration Advisors) Introduction In order to assess risks posed by foreign direct investments to national security, authorities must understand not only the target business, but also the investor, ...
Continue reading Investment Screening Between Discretion and Arbitrariness – Charting the Borderlands
Authors: Steffen Hindelang (CELIS Institute; Uppsala University), Helene Schramm (CELIS Institute) and Liam McGrath (CELIS Institute) Introduction Foreign investment screening regimes are built on discretion. Screening decisions often turn on assessments of open-ended lists ...
Continue reading Navigating Treaty Liability for Conditional Approvals in Foreign Investment Screening
Author: Dean Merriman (Barrister at the Victorian Bar) I. Imposition of Conditions on Foreign Investment: Anecdotes from Australia It is well known that domestic investment screening authorities frequently are given ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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) ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading 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 ...
Continue reading EU Sanctions and Investment Arbitration: An Attempt at Moving the Goalposts through Increased Securitisation?
Author: Alexandros Bakos ((Postdoctoral researcher, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, College of Law) Introduction After the Achmea and Komstroy sagas, marking the end of intra-European Union (EU) investor-state arbitration, the Union ...
Continue reading Latest Blog Posts
CFIUS’s Known Investor Program: A New Chapter in Foreign Investment Screening
Author: Anonymous Introduction / Context The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) previously announced a “Known Investor Program” to streamline the U.S. foreign investment review process. Under the program, certain repeat, low-risk foreign investors may provide detailed information to CFIUS in advance of any specific deal. By collecting and assessing detailed information about a foreign investor in ...
Continue reading 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 ticking for the early-2028 implementation deadline of the Foreign Investment Screening Regulation (the 'Regulation') with Germany already announcing that it will consolidate its screening rules and implement the Regulation bymid-2026, ...
Continue reading Balancing Economic Security and Investment Protection – The Case of Nexperia and the China–Netherlands BIT
Authors: Steffen Hindelang (CELIS Institute), Liam McGrath (CELIS Institute), Helene Schramm (CELIS Institute) I. Introduction While the European Union and its Member States are still assessing whether to introduce a mechanism to review outbound investment for economic security reasons, the Netherlands appears to be ahead of the policy curve. On 30 September 2025, following reports that parts of Nexperia Semiconductor's ...
Continue reading 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 EU, in its Turnberry Deal with the United States, had promised to "strengthen economic security alignment" between the two entities. The deal itself ended the period of high uncertainty in ...
Continue reading Investment Screening and the Nexperia Crisis: Would It Have Made a Difference?
Author: Frans-Paul van der Putten (Founder, ChinaGeopolitics) Introduction Five months have passed since the interventions by the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs and the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal that took away control of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia from its Chinese parent company Wingtech Technologies. Looking back at what happened, now that the media frenzy has subsided, this ...
Continue reading Ukraine’s Interagency FDI Commission: Early Powers in a Yet-to-Be-Defined FDI Screening Regime
Igor Svechkar (Partner, Asters), Sergiy Glushchenko (Counsel, Asters), and Anastasiia Panchak (Senior Associate, Asters; CELIS Country Reporter for Ukraine) Introduction On 28 January 2026, the Ukrainian Government ('the Government') adopted Resolution No. 97 ('the Resolution'), establishing an Interagency Foreign Direct Investment Screening Commission ('the Commission'). This step marks a further move toward the development of a comprehensive foreign direct investment ...
Continue reading FDI Screening in Ukraine: Balancing Security, Predictability, and Investment
Reflections from a CELIS and CIPE event in Washington, DC Anton Arkhypov (Counsel, AVELLUM) Introduction Ukraine's reconstruction will depend heavily on foreign investment. At the same time, the country faces an unprecedented challenge: how to attract capital, technology, and partnerships without compromising national security in an environment shaped by war, geopolitical fragmentation, and global supply-chain realignment. These tensions were at the ...
Continue reading CELIS Update on Investment Screening and Economic Security – January 2026
By Helene Schramm with the help of intern Maria-Arancha Simiuc INVESTMENT SCREENING MECHANISMS United States – Washington Targets Sensitive Tech Investment Abroad Under New COINS Act On 18 December 2025, the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act 2025 was signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. The Act requires enforcement by the Department of Treasury through implementing regulations. ...
Continue reading Economic Security and the Financial Sector: Italian FDI Legislation Reformed to Cope with the EU Commission Infringement Procedure
By Andrea Gemmi and Linda Lorenzon Introduction The opening of infringement procedure INFR(2025)2152 concerning Italy's FDI screening legislation (so-called "golden power" legislation) -following its application to the UniCredit/Banco BPM transaction-has brought to the surface unresolved tensions between national FDI controls and EU competences in banking supervision, prudential regulation, and free movement of capital. The European Commission's challenge appears related to how ...
Continue reading The Guidelines on the Foreign Subsidies Regulation: condensing the Commission’s first experience
Pierfrancesco Mattiolo (PhD Candidate, University of Antwerp) and Jan Blockx (Assistant Professor, University of Antwerp) On 9 January 2026, the Commission adopted its Guidelines on the application of certain provisions of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). This publication follows the publication of the Draft Guidelines in July 2025 and increasing enforcement action at the end of 2025, including the opening ...
Continue reading Get the blog posts in your inbox: CELIS Newsletter
CELIS Blog Editors
Want to be an author?
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
Please feel free to consult our Editorial Guidelines.