CELIS-Blog

Belgium – FDI screening regime enters into force 1 July 2023 As almost all EU Member States have introduced a foreign direct investment screening mechanism into their law, it is now Belgium’s turn: on July 1 2023, Belgium’s new FDI screening regulations, drafted in June 2022, will take effect. As there is a significant increase…

EU – Commission considers introducing an outbound investment screening mechanism On 30 March 2023, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech in which she announced that the EU is preparing a mechanism for screening outbound investment. The speech was made during her visit to China on 5-6 April and addresses the threats…

France – Considerable increase in international investments On 27 February 2023, the French government announced that the number of international investments in France had increased in 2022 compared to 2021: 1,725 investment decisions were recorded in France that year, an increase of 7% compared to 2021. Projects in the energy and recycling sectors have grown…

Estonia – Introduction of new FDI-regime On 25 January 2023, the Estonian Parliament has passed the Foreign Investment Reliability Assessment Act which will enter into force on 1 September 2023. The act will introduce the very first Foreign Direct Investment Screening (FDI) regime in Estonia. Under the new law foreign direct and indirect investments from…

France – Extension of temporary FDI framework for another year On 23 December 2022, the French government published Decree No. 2022-1622 concerning the extension for another year of the temporary framework lowering the threshold for acquiring voting rights that may trigger FDI screening procedure in France from 25% to 10%. While this temporary regime, which…

EU – Commission prepares revision of the EU’s FDI Screening Regulation In a communication on its work programme for 2023 dated 18.10.2022, the European Commission announced that it is ready to review the EU FDI Screening Regulation two years after its entry into force. The aim is to identify the necessary modifications that would improve…

USA – Treasury publishes CFIUS Enforcement and Penalty Guidelines On 20 October 2022 the Department of the Treasury, as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS” or the “Committee”), has released the first-ever CFIUS Enforcement and Penalty Guidelines. The Guidelines provide the public with information about how the Committee assesses…

EU – European Commission publishes Second Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union On 1 September 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the Second Annual Report on the Screening of Foreign Direct Investment into the Union. The report contains besides the most recent data on foreign direct investment inflows into…

Czechia – First Annual Report on Foreign Direct Investments Screening in the Czech Republic On 1 August 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic published the first Annual Report on Foreign Investments Screening in the Czech Republic. The report provides some interesting insights on the FDI Act that has been in effect for one…

Belgium – Introduction of a general FDI regime The next EU member state is about to implement the EU Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regulation and to present its first FDI regime. On 1 June 2022, the federal and regional governments of Belgium agreed on a draft legislative text that will introduce a mandatory FDI regime…

EU – Commission singles out “hostile investors” As a reaction of the war against Ukraine, for the first time ever, the European Commission has taken the step of singling out two hostile investor countries for Member States to consider in applying foreign direct investment (“FDI”) screening laws. In its communication from 6 April 2022 the Commission…

EU – Commission proposes European Chips Act On 8 February 2022, the European Commission published multiple documents relating to the Proposal for a Regulation establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem (European Chips Act). Due to their importance in the production of many goods in the technology sector, such as cars or…

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…

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…