Events | 23 October 2019 | 3:00 PM - 3:55 PM (UTC)

Navigating through European and US FDI screening mechanisms

The European Union and various EU Member States are actively strengthening their foreign direct investment (FDI) screening mechanisms amid increasing global trade and geopolitical tensions.

These FDI screening mechanisms generally purport to protect strategic national and regional interests linked to a variety of sectors, including:

• critical infrastructure (e.g., energy, transport, water, health, communications, electoral and finance);

• critical goods and technologies (e.g., dual-use items, aerospace, defence and AI); and

• critical inputs (e.g., raw materials and food security).

The overarching scope of such strategic national and regional interests is very wide margin and will most likely result in the introduction of new – and potentially unforeseen – barriers to FDI in the European Union and the United States, whether they take the form of so-called ‘greenfield’ investments or Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A).

On 17 September 2019 the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued proposed rules intended to strengthen and modernise the existing Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review process, providing more detail about the changes to the process for reviewing inbound transactions for potential national security concerns. The proposed regulations expand the scope of foreign investments and acquisitions subject to CFIUS review, including to certain non-controlling investments.

During this webinar, our FDI screening specialists will be detailing and exploring:

• the new EU and U.S. screening rules and procedures, including:

• the new European Union Framework Regulation on FDI screening;
• how the European Commission and the EU Member States will cooperate where the substantive aspects of the screening process fall into a domaine réservé of national governments;
• developments on Germany's FDI in particular the consequences on the lowering of the thresholds for foreign investment reviews, and the widening of the scope of such reviews through the inclusion of mass media as a relevant sector; and
• key aspects of proposed regulations recently published by the U.S. Treasury Department.

• which industries will be in the spotlight of the new screening mechanisms and which criteria will play a key role when authorities decide about foreign investment screenings; and
• how companies can prepare for the coordination of merger control and foreign investment control procedures and how this will affect the timelines of international transactions

To register, please click here.

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