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…
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…
After an initial period of indifferent interest, the current Canadian government continues to toughen its approach to the review of foreign investments in Canada. Two important developments in March 2024 underscore this trend. First, the government enacted substantial amendments to the Investment Canada Act (ICA) on March 22, 2024.These amendments, the most significant since 2009,…
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…
Three years after the introduction of Spain’s FDI General Screening Mechanism (in 2020), Spain has finally approved its FDI Implementing Regulation (for the entire text, unfortunately only available in Spanish, please click here). Although many of the rules now in force could be found in drafts made available by the Ministry for Industry, Commerce and…
In this annual review of Canadian foreign investment law, we discuss developments over the past year, including proposed amendments to the Investment Canada Act (ICA) and new government policies on the treatment of specific categories of investments. We also consider how these trends will influence enforcement in the year to come. Our central observation is…
The European Union’s (EU’s) new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), entered into force on January 12, 2023. The FSR creates a unique new quasi-antitrust regime to combat distortions of competition in the EU internal market caused by subsidies multinationals receive outside the EU. It imposes new mandatory notification and approval requirements for acquisitions of significant EU…
On 6 February 2023, the European Commission (“EC”) published the draft Implementing Regulation and notification forms (together: the “IR”) relating to the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”). The EC has launched a four-week public consultation period that will allow stakeholders to comment; i.e., there may still be changes to the IR. However, it can in…
Background It has become usual in Spain’s FDI system for reforms to be introduced by measures formally unrelated to FDI. The latest reform is no exception and Articles 61 and 62 of Royal Decree Law 20/2022, of 27 December, addressing the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, supporting the reconstruction of the Island…
On 12 January 2023, the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) entered into force. The majority of the FSR will start to apply on 12 July 2023. The FSR constitutes a new investigatory review tool for the European Commission. It will focus on economic behaviour on the internal market by companies who received foreign subsidies…
