An amendment to the Austrian Competition Act, which entered into force on 10 September 2021, requires the Austrian Competition Authority to share all merger control filings it receives with the Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW), which is the competent authority for foreign investment review in Austria. This new measure is aimed at strengthening the enforcement of foreign investment review in Austria, by allowing the BMDW to screen merger control filings with regard to potential foreign investment…
On 25 July 2020, amid Covid-crisis, a new law governing foreign investment review in Austria entered into force. The new law – under the title Investment Control Act (“ICA”) – significantly broadened the scope of foreign investment review in Austria. The ICA now applies to direct and indirect acquisitions of Austrian companies (including Austrian subsidiaries), asset deals or acquisitions of voting rights (starting with a threshold of only 10% in particularly sensitive sectors). After almost…
On 11 October 2020, the EU screening mechanism for foreign direct investments potentially affecting security and public order in an EU Member State or in the whole EU became fully operational. This follows the adoption of the EU Foreign Direct Investment Regulation in March 2019 (see our previous updates here and here), when the European Commission (“Commission”) and the Member States established a coordination framework, consisting of various separate national screening mechanisms. The EU screening…