Foreign direct investment

European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Merger control, Podcast, Trade Law

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

We are happy to announce the new International Law Talk Podcast episode on the interrelations between merger control, FDI, subsidy control & EU trade law. In the episode, I discuss with competition and trade experts and my former colleagues François-Charles Laprévote and Wanjie Lin from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. We focus on the…

European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment

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

Regulation 2019/452 (as amended, the FDI Regulation) inserted the European Commission (the Commission) into a hitherto jealously guarded area of EU Member State authority – screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) for threats to security and public order.  The FDI Regulation set out minimum requirements for Member States’ FDI screening mechanisms and a mechanism for…

Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Spain

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

Background Another day, another ground-breaking change in Spain’s FDI rules.  November 2021 has been an eventful month for FDI in Spain.  The following two developments are likely to be consequential in the evolution of the country’s policy as regards foreign investments: (i) More than a year after the establishment of the Spanish 2020 FDI ex-ante…

Foreign direct investment, Spain

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

There is a lot of hype about the Spanish FDI regulations introduced by a number of Royal Decrees in 2020: fines of up to the value of the deal, non-controlling acquisition of shares can potentially trigger a filing, etc. And yet, prior to 2020, Spain already had FDI provisions on the books. These pre-2020 FDI…

Abuse of dominance, Austria, Digital markets, Dominance, Exemptions, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Jurisdiction, Merger control, Merger Thresholds, Relative Market Power, Sustainability, Turnover thresholds

(MMRA)/ /Leave a comment

On 10 September 2021, certain significant changes to Austria’s competition law entered into force, although some of the merger control related changes will apply only as of 1 January 2022: Merger control. The amendments include a revision of Austria’s revenue-based merger control threshold, the introduction of the significant lessening of competition test, and a broadening…

Digitisation, Dutch clause, European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Innovation, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction clauses, Killer acquisitions, Merger control, Podcast

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

The newest episode of the competition edition of the International Law Talk Podcast focuses on the revival of the Dutch clause and other current issues of merger control. For this highly topical issue, I interviewed merger control star Tilman Kuhn from White & Case. Earlier this year, the European Commission encouraged Member States to use…

European Champions, European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Merger control, Public procurement, Subsidies, White Paper

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

On May 5, 2021, the European Commission (the Commission) adopted a proposal for a regulation (the Anti-Subsidy Regulation) to combat distortions of competition in the European Union (EU) caused by subsidies granted by non-EU Member States to companies doing business in the EU.  The Anti-Subsidy Regulation is an important part of the von der Leyen…

Brexit, Foreign direct investment, Merger control, Merger Thresholds, Mergers, Podcast

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

We are continuing with our competition law issues of the International Law Talk Podcast. Two weeks ago, I talked to Oliver Bretz, founding partner at Euclid Law and a merger expert, about the fragmentation of EU merger control. We focused particularly on the changes in the EU one-stop-systems through Brexit, the increasing use of EU…

Foreign direct investment, Merger control, National competition authorities (NCAs), Romania

(University of Macau)/ /Leave a comment

EU FDI Screening Regulation: separating security from competition The Regulation 2019/452 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (EU FDI Screening Regulation) was adopted on 19 March 2019 and became fully operational on 11 October 2020. Its adoption was prompted by the concerns of various stakeholders alleging the existence…

Foreign direct investment, Merger control, National competition authorities (NCAs), Poland

(University of Macau)/ /Leave a comment

EU FDI Screening Regulation: separating security and competition concerns Regulation 2019/452 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (EU FDI Screening Regulation) was adopted on 19 March 2019 and will enter into force on 11 October 2020. Its adoption was prompted by the concerns of various stakeholders alleging the…