Foreign direct investment

Commitments, European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Foreign Subsidy Regulation, Merger control, Merger notification, State aid, State owned enterprise (SOE), Telecommunications, United Arab Emirates

(University of Vienna, Austria) and (University of Antwerp)/ /Leave a comment

On 24 September 2024, the European Commission (EC) issued the long-awaited first decision (under phase II of the concentration tool) of the new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR). It took another long wait of seven months, but a provisional public version of the commitment decision in the e&/PPF transaction (Case FS.100011) was published on 4 April…

Foreign direct investment, Regulation, Spain

, (Pérez-Llorca, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

With the much-debated reforms to Act 19/2003 of 4 July, on capital movements (“Act 19/2003”), the Spanish foreign direct investment (“FDI”) regime has been expanded over the past few years.  However, FDI screening in relation to defense investments predates Act 19/2003 (and the recent FDI hype more broadly), and was regulated in Royal Decree 664/1999…

AI, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Technological Development

, , (Simmons & Simmons)/ /Leave a comment

On 15 January 2025, the European Commission (Commission) adopted a recommendation inviting Member States to review investments made by domestic companies into third countries (so-called “outbound investments”). The recommendation aligns with similar mechanisms adopted in other countries, (e.g. the US Department of the Treasury’s Outbound Investment Security Program), and is part of a broader strategy…

European Commission, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment

, , (Simmons & Simmons)/ /Leave a comment

Five years ago, the EU adopted the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Regulation as a key trade measure to address an increasingly complex geopolitical stage.  Since it became applicable, in 2020, the number of FDI regimes in place in Europe has almost doubled (from 14 to 24), leading to an aggregate screening of over 4,000 transactions…

European Commission, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Legislation

(Beauchamps)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction   Earlier this year, the European Commission published a legislative proposal for a new FDI Screening Regulation. The legislative proposal builds, as noted in the Commission’s 4th Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments (FDI), on the experience gained by the Commission and EU Member States over the previous three years under…

Competition enforcement, Ex ante regulation, Foreign direct investment, Fundamental rights, Hungary, Industrial policy, OECD, Regulation, Relative Market Power, Structural competition problems

(Szecskay Attorneys at Law, Hungary)/ /Leave a comment

Is competition law fit for purpose? Do we need better tools to make markets fair? How far should government go to ‘fix’ market structures? It’s impossible to attend an antitrust conference these days without discussing these questions under the umbrella of competition & industrial policy. From decades of broad consensus championing competitive neutrality and ‘letting…

Foreign direct investment, Legislation, Mergers

, , , (Mayer Brown)/ /Leave a comment

INTRODUCTION On 24 January 2024, the European Commission (“Commission”) unveiled its proposals to reform the current EU Foreign Direct Investment Screening Regulation 2019/452 (“FDI Screening Regulation”). This forms part of a wider package of five initiatives to strengthen economic security in the EU following the “growing geopolitical tensions and profound technological shifts”.[1] Factors such as the desire to protect…

European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Legislation

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

What a difference five years make. In 2019, the European Union (EU) created a modest common framework for foreign direct investment (FDI) screening, Regulation 2019/452 (the FDI Regulation), stressing that decisions on proposed investments, and even the decision whether to engage in FDI screening at all, remained with EU Member States. A pandemic and two…

Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

The European Commission’s third annual report (the Report) on experience with Regulation 2019/452 (as amended, the FDI Regulation) reflects the growing importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) screening in the European Union (EU).  Together with a staff working document, the Report provides valuable insights into the FDI Regulation’s practical impact and the Commission’s role in FDI screening…

European Court of Justice, Foreign direct investment, Fundamental rights, Hungary, Regulation

, (E+H Attorneys-at-Law)/ /Leave a comment

Loosely based on the lyrics of the band Wu-Tang Clan, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) took a closer look at the acquisition of a Hungarian gravel pit in its judgment of 13 July 2023, C- 106/22, and found some rather big “stones” to turn around with regard to FDI in Europe….