The UK Government launched a Consultation on its new UK National Security and Investment Bill, and specifically the definition of the sectors where investments would trigger a mandatory notification. This Consultation closed on 6 January. Baker McKenzie welcomes the opportunity and responded to the Consultation. We have identified a number of key issues that merit consideration:
- A legal definition of “national security” to help businesses to understand whether a transaction raises genuine concerns.
- Significant tightening and refinement of the 17 sector definitions that will require mandatory notification. The current overly-expansive approach risks the Government being inundated with notifications related to businesses that do not raise national security risks.
- The removal of intra-group transactions from the scope of the notification regime, as these do not raise national security risks.
- The need for a clear UK nexus – the current legislation captures acquisitions of targets located outside the UK, giving the UK Government extraordinarily wide extra-territorial jurisdiction.
- Narrowing the scope of the information required in the proposed notification form to ensure that the form is clear and simple to complete.
Please contact us if you would like a full copy of our Consultation response. Our client alert on the Bill is accessible here. We will continue to post updates in connection with the Bill on this Blog.
