Clarion Hotel Gillet Uppsala ▪ Top Floor 

EARLY ARRIVALS

University Main Building (Universitetshuset) ▪ Hall IX

Dress Code: Business Attire

FORUM OPENING & EXPERT SESSIONS

08:30 – 09:00 CEST

Registration and Opening Reception

09:00 – 09:20 CEST

Conveners’ Opening Remarks 

by Steffen Hindelang (Uppsala University) and J. Hillebrand Pohl (Maastricht University)

09:20 – 09:30 CEST

Welcome by the Dean of the Faculty of Law of Uppsala University
by Anna Singer (Uppsala University)

09:30 – 10:30 CEST

Opening Plenary Debate on the Emerging Investment Control in Europe: Screening, Sanctions and Subsidies
chaired by Steffen Hindelang (Uppsala University) and J. Hillebrand Pohl (Maastricht University) and featuring Carolina Dackö (Mannheimer Swartling), Christoph Herrmann (University of Passau), John E. Smith (Morrison & Foerster), Jaap van Etten (Datenna), and Andrzej Szumański (PKN Orlen), and Naboth van den Broek (Akin Gump).

10:30 – 11:00 CEST

Networking Break

11:00 – 12:15 CEST

Foreign Investment Screening: The Linkage Between Responsible Investing and Democratic Resilience
chaired by Kim Holmes (CIPE) and featuring Laura Black (CFIUS), Sofia Bournou (Business Europe), Jonas Parello-Plesner (Alliance of Democracies), and Ruslan Stefanov (Center for the Study of Democracy)

12:15 – 13:15 CEST

Lunch

12:45 – 13:15 CEST

Book Launch: The International Law of Economic Warfare (Springer) by Teoman M. Hagemeyer-Witzleb

13:15 – 14:30 CEST

Parallel Expert Sessions

Parallel Session A: Investment Screening and the Role of different measures to Mitigate National Security Concerns chaired by Leonard von Rummel (BLOMSTEIN) and featuring Damien Levie (European Commission), Clémence Largé (Ministère de l’Economie) and Angelika Milger (BMWK)

Parallel Session B: Toward Regulatory Convergence with EU Investment Screening: The Case of the Western Balkans chaired by Eric Hontz (CIPE) and featuring Ivana Gardasevic (RCC), Dario Jovanovic (CCI), Zoran Nechev (Institute for Democracy), and Dragan Tilev (Government of North Macedonia) (NB: different location: Fakultetsrummet ▪ Trädgårdsgatan 1)

14:45 – 15:30 CEST

Hidden Defence Investors from China: The Future of Screening Mechanisms in Europe featuring Jaap van Etten, Julia Kern, and Gareth Heywood (Datenna)

15:30 – 16:00 CEST

Networking and Refreshment Break

FORUM OPENING KEYNOTE EVENT

16:00 – 16:15 CEST

Introduction to the Keynote Event
by Tobias Pierlings (CIBA)

16:15 – 16:45 CEST

Opening Keynote Address
Speaker:           Denis Redonnet (European Commission)

16:45 – 18:15 CEST

High-level Roundtable on Investments and National Security Strategy
Panelists:        Léa Berthiau-Jézéquel (CJEU)
                         Laura Black (CFIUS),
                         Daniel Fiott (EUISS)
                         Maria Chiara Malaguti (UNIDROIT)
                         Peter Muchlinski (SOAS)
                        Tobias Pierlings (CIBA)
                        Denis Redonnet (European Commission)

Moderator:    Jonathan Hackenbroich (ECFR)

18:30 – 19:30 CEST

Drinks Reception, courtesy of Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis”, Skopje ▪Uppsala Castle

19:30 CEST

CFIS Speakers’ Dinner (by special invitation) ▪ Uppsala Castle 

Gamla Torget ▪ Brusewitz Hall

Dress Code: Business Attire

09:00 – 10:30 CEST

Session I: The Rise of Sovereign-Driven Investment

Themes: (1) the changing course of foreign direct investments; (2) sovereign wealth funds; (3) state-owned enterprises; and (4) publicly subsidized private foreign acquisitions and investments

Chairs:              Steffen Hindelang (Uppsala University) and
                        J. Hillebrand Pohl (Maastricht University) 

• Changing patterns of FDI flows and changing attitudes towards foreign investment
• Special concerns generated by sovereign-driven investment
• A new role for state capitalism and the new dimension of investment law

Speaker:       Joachim Pohl (OECD)

The Changing Landscape of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Implications for Investment Screening

• Defining sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), their aims, characteristics, and renewed role in the field of investment
• Transparency about structure, governance and investment strategies
• Potential national security risks arising from SWFs and the development of national and international responses

Speaker:        Adam Dixon (Maastricht University)

State-Owned Enterprises and Investment Control

• Defining State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and their increasing role in international investments
• Geoeconomic challenges posed by SOEs and possible responses
• SOE investments: sovereign-subsidized vs. adversarial investments

Speaker:        Alexandr Svetlicinii (University of Macau)

Fair Play? The Politics of Evaluating Foreign Subsidies in the European Union

• Direct and indirect foreign acquisition subsidies
• Subsidised participation in foreign public procurement
• Means of subsidization: transfer of funds or liabilities; in-kind subsidies; tax incentives; regulatory incentives

Speakers:       Sophie Meunier (Princeton University) and
                      Robert Basedow (LSE)

The Quest for Autonomy and the Rise of Corporate Geoeconomics

• Re-emergence of geoeconomics and the challenge to economic interdependence
• “Balancing dependence”: government’s strategies in the pursuit of autonomy
• How companies are reacting to this changing landscape

Speaker:       Henrique Choer Moraes (CIBA)

10:30 – 11:00 CEST

Networking and Refreshment Break

11:00 – 12:30 CEST

Session II: National Security as a Limit to Sovereign-Driven Investment

Themes: (1) sovereignty, strategic autonomy, and national security; (2) delimiting the concept of national security; (3) the multidimensional scope of national security; (4) protection of critical resources and strategic assets; and (5) creating assessment methodologies for national security threats

Chairs:             Caitríona Heinl (Azure Forum) and
                        J. Hillebrand Pohl (Maastricht University)

Delimiting the Concept of National Security

• National essential security interests
• The elusive and variable notion of national security
• The search for a normative yardstick

Speaker:       Alejandra Torres Camprubí (Foley Hoag LLP) 

Cybersecurity Investments in Critical Sectors

• How operators in critical sectors invest their cybersecurity budgets
• How has the NIS Directive influenced this investment?
• What is the cost of cybersecurity incidents?

Speaker:       Athanasios Drougkas (ENISA)

Protection of Critical Resources and Strategic Assets

• Critical infrastructures and technologies
• Critical inputs, supplies, and resources
• Data and media

Speaker:       Alessandro Lazari (F24 AG)

Creating Assessment Methodologies for National Security Threats

• Goals, aims, and possible models of threat assessment
• Key principles: criticality, plausibility, competitiveness
• Risk assessment of investors: tracing the origin, attribution to States, changes in the origin

Speaker:       John Lash (Darkhorse Global)

Inward FDI Regulation in the UK: Closing the “Open Door”?

• Historical origins and development of current UK FDI policy
• The regulatory framework of the National Security and Investment Act 2021
• Wider regulatory and policy implications of the 2021 Act

Speaker:       Peter Muchlinski (SOAS)

12:30 – 14:00 CEST

Luncheon

14:00 – 15:30 CEST

Session III: Economic and Other Public Order Justifications for Restricting Sovereign-Driven Investment

Themes: (1) geoeconomic competition and its policy implications on sovereign-driven investment; (2) balance of payments-related restrictions on the freedom of investment; (3) investment subsidies and distortion of competition; (4) enforcement of investor obligations; and (5) economic security

Chairs:             Sarah Bauerle Danzman (Indiana University) and
                        J. Hillebrand Pohl (Maastricht University)

Protection or Protectionism? Why China’s “socialist” market economy justifies EU investment screening measures

• Profit maximization and sovereign-driven investment
• State capitalism, neo-mercantilism and the state as an economic actor
• Public-private enterprise, competition, and commingling of public and private interests

Speaker:       Naoise McDonagh (University of Adelaide)

Balance of Payments-Related Restrictions on the Freedom of Investment

• Exchange controls and exchange-reserve management
• Inbound capital controls and hot-money flows
• Capital-account liberalization post-Washington Consensus

Speaker:       Claus Zimmermann (Noerr)

The EU Regulation on Foreign Subsidies: What, Why, and How?

• Subsidies as barriers to protect domestic industries
• Subsidies to gain unfair advantage in international trade
• The Draft EU Regulation on Foreign Subsidies in an overview

Speaker:       Lena Hornkohl (Max Planck Institute Luxembourg)

Investor Obligations Through the Prism of the EU Foreign Investment Screening Framework

• Enforcement of civil law obligations
• Criminal law enforcement: anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing, anti-corruption and other economic crime, tax evasion
• Enforcement of insolvency laws

Speaker:       Yulia Levashova (Nyenrode Business University)

The Concept of Economic Security and its Implications for Foreign Investment Control

• Geoeconomics, economic policy autonomy, and safeguarding strategic economic sustainability and resilience
• Countering economic espionage and unauthorised technology transfer, and the avoidance of vulnerabilities and dependencies

Speaker:      Francesca Ghiretti (Mercator Institute for China Studies)

15:30 – 16:00 CEST

Networking and Refreshment Break

16:00 – 17:30 CEST

Session IV: Foreign Investment Control and International Law

Themes: (1) the international legal framework for foreign investment control; (2) economic sanctions as foreign investment control; (3) regulating sovereign-driven investments in international trade and investment agreements; and (4) common principles for an integrated system for foreign investment control

Chairs:             Dominik Eisenhut (Airbus) and
                        Joanna Warchoł (European Parliament)

The International Legal Framework for Foreign Investment Control

• Absence of comprehensive regulation or any institutional structure
• The WTO and Article XXI GATT as the model for national security provisions
• Interpreting Non-Precluded Measures (NPM) clauses in international investment agreements

Speaker:         Pascale Accaoui Lorfing (CREDIMI)

Economic Sanctions as an Instrument of Foreign Investment Control

• The rising importance and types of investment-related economic sanctions
• The relationship between economic sanctions and investment screening mechanisms
• The limits of applying economic sanctions for investment control

Speaker:       Tamás Szabados (Eötvös Loránd University)

Regulating Sovereign-Driven Investments in International Trade and Investment Agreements

• Market access measures, limits on equity, and maintenance of state monopolies
• Compulsory registration and screening systems on national security grounds
• Checks and balances

Speaker:       Georgios Dimitropoulos (Hamad Bin Khalifa University)

Screening Systems to Evaluate FDI: Searching for Common Principles or (Just) a Toolbox?

• Transparency, predictability, accountability and due process
• Non-discrimination: national and most-favoured-nations treatment
• Proportionality, legitimate expectations, and other relevant principles

Speaker:       Carlos Esplugues Mota (University of Valencia)

18:00 – 19:30 CEST

Drinks Reception, courtesy of BLOMSTEIN ▪ Orangery in the Lineaus Garden

CFIS Reception & Banquet ▪ Orangery in the Lineaus Garden

University Main Building (Universitetshuset) ▪ Hall IV

Dress Code: Smart Casual

09:00 – 10:30 CEST

Session V: Scope of Foreign Investment Controls

Themes: (1) the definition and scope of investment: direct vs. foreign, IMF Balance of Payments Manual, OECD Benchmark Definitions, international investment agreement (IIA) definitions, EU free movement of capital; (2) definition and scope of investor: domestic vs. foreign, IIA definitions; (3) investment screening thresholds: the case for or against, types, calibration; and (4) notification and disclosure requirements: ex ante vs. ex post, due diligence, ongoing notifications

Chairs:             Naboth van den Broek (Akin Gump) and                        
                       Carolina Dackö (Mannheimer Swartling) 

Foreign Direct Investment and Security: What is Actually the Problem?

• How can FDI impact state security?
• Framework for analyzing state security interests in FDI
• Complexity and trade-offs in the FDI – security relationship

Speaker:       Wolf Zwartkruis (Leiden University)

Raising Security Considerations Before International Courts and Tribunals

• How do international courts and tribunals approach security concerns?
• Does the state enjoy discretion in raising security exceptions?
• To what degree does the approach converge or diverge across international legal regimes?

Speaker:       Hannes Lenk (Aarhus University)

National Security and Essential Security Interests in CJEU Jurisprudence

• What does the national security clause in EU law mean?
• What is its content, what role does it play, what is the extent of MS discretion when applying this clause?
• What are conditions for its application?

Speaker:       Marek Jaśkowski (UKSW)

Investments Subject to Screening

• FDI vs. portfolio investment, contractual rights as investments
• The investment concept in international agreements and domestic law; new approaches to defining investments
• Territorial nexus, corporate restructuring, and jurisdictional overlap

Speaker:       Yarik Kryvoi (Investment Treaty Forum)

Nature of the Investor: Foreignness, Transparency and Foreign State Control

• Domestic vs. foreign investors; the “foreignness” of investors
• Transparency and state control
• Chinese investments and “Yellow Peril” discourse

Speaker:       Jochem de Kok (Allen & Overy and University of Amsterdam)

10:30 – 11:00 CEST

Networking and Refreshment Break

11:00 – 12:30 CEST

Session VI: Administrative Procedure for Investment Screening

Themes: (1) screening authorities: governance, powers, staff, procedures, and internal review; (2) sector-specific procedures: defence, dual use, financial, media, transport, energy, and telecommunications sectors; (3) national coordination: general, sector-specific, inter-authority, sanctions; and (4) international coordination: multilateral cooperation, creating workable multilevel coordination

Chairs:             Damien Levie (European Commission) and
                        Bärbel Sachs (Noerr)

Screening Authorities

• Governments as decision-makers and the use of separate agencies, with considerations about independence and (political) accountability
• Powers generally available to screening authorities and considerations about margin of discretion and (lack of) transparency in FDI/national security matters
• Process: confidentiality and lack of publicity; parallel reviews

Speaker:       Jacques Bourgeois and Alessandra Moroni (Sidley) 

Sector-Specific Screening Procedures

• Defence, security and dual use sectors
• Critical infrastructure: telecommunications and transport sectors
• Other sectors: energy and water, financial services, and media

Speaker:       Christoph Arhold and Henning Berger (White & Case)

National Coordination of Domestic Screening Procedures

• Coordination of cross-sectoral and sector-specific procedures
• Lead authorities and their coordination of national authorities in screening procedures
• Coordination of investment-screening procedures with sanctions and other ad hoc investment control

Speaker:       Sabrina Robert-Cuendet (Le Mans University)

International Coordination of National Screening Procedures

• Multilateral coordination and cooperation in foreign investment control
• The EU investment-screening coordination mechanisms
• Creating workable multilevel coordination: states, authorities, procedures

Speaker:       Fabien Gehl (European Commission)

12:30 – 13:30 CEST

Luncheon

13:30 – 15:00 CEST

Session VII: Treatment of Foreign Investors and Targeted Investments Undergoing Screening

Themes: (1) standards of treatment in national law: proportionality, legitimate expectations, non-discrimination, due process; (2) standards of treatment in international law: national treatment, most-favoured-nations treatment, fair and equitable treatment; and (3) mitigation arrangements: functions, structure, legal basis, procedure, disputes, monitoring

Chairs:             Gerd Morgenthaler (University of Siegen) and
                       Prabhash Ranjan (Jindal Global University)

Economic perspectives when screening FDI

• Role of economic FDI impact analysis
• Need for further research on effects of ownership and infrastructure in economic FDI analysis
• Closer look at the economic benefits of inward FDI in the host country

Speaker:       Jonas Hallberg and Patrik Tingvall (Kommerskollegium / National                         Board of Trade Sweden)

Key changes in FDI screening in 2022: the case of the Netherlands

• Existing sector-specific screening mechanisms 
• New draft of a general investment screening act 
• Exciting developments at the EU level

Speaker:       Pim Jansen (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Standards of Treatment in International Law

• Non-discrimination standards
• Fair and equitable treatment
• Specific standards, including market access

Speaker:       Csaba Rusznak (Sovereign Arbitration Advisors)

Mitigation Arrangements

• Function, legal basis, and relation to investor rights
• Procedure and negotiation; monitoring of mitigation arrangements
• Adjudicating claims arising out of mitigation arrangements

Speaker:       Tatiana O. Sullivan (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP)

15:00 – 15:30 CEST

Networking and Refreshment Break

15:30 – 17:00 CEST

Session VIII: Review of Investment Screening Decisions

Themes: (1) non-adjudicative national administrative remedies: internal review, negotiation, mediation, other means; (2) adjudicative remedies at the national level: justiciability and scope of review, standard of review; and (3) investor-state arbitration and other international legal remedies: arbitrability and scope of review, ECHR and other investor-state remedies, interstate remedies

Chairs:             Robyn Briese (Australian Government Solicitor) and
                        Christoph Herrmann (University of Passau) 

Non-Adjudicatory National Administrative Remedies

• Internal administrative review and complaints mechanisms
• Negotiation and administrative agreements
• Other non-adjudicative dispute resolution

Speaker:       James M. Brower (Morrison & Foerster)

Determining the Role of Investment Screening in International Investment Law

• Investment screening in the pre- and post-establishment phase of investment protection
• Investment protection standards for the screening procedure 
• Treaty-based safeguards for the state

Speaker:       Kilian Wagner (University of Vienna)

Investor-State Arbitration and Arbitral Deference to Host-State Judicial Autonomy in National Security Matters

• National security and arbitration: arbitrability, enforceability, and the consent to arbitration in matters of national security
• ICSID and non-ICSID jurisdictional prerequisites
• Non-precluded measures clauses and other devices of arbitral deference

Speaker:       Jens Hillebrand Pohl (Maastricht University)

Sovereign Investors as ICSID Claimants: a Historical Assessment

• ICSID Convention drafting documents 
• Jurisdiction ratione personae 
• Case analysis and jurisprudence constante  

Speaker:       Dini Sejko (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

FORUM CLOSING KEYNOTE EVENT

17:00 – 17:30 CEST

Closing Keynote Address
Speaker:       Damien Levie (European Commission)

FAREWELL

10:00 – 11:30 CEST

Farewell Brunch (optional)