On 1 July 2024, the Dutch government published a legislative proposal specifically aimed at ensuring national security in the defense sector, through the so-called Defense Resilience and Safety Related Sector Act (Wet weerbaarheid defensie en veiligheid gerelateerde industrie, the “Proposed Act”). Importantly, the Proposed Act – which needs to be seen in the broader context of current geopolitical tensions and Dutch and European policy priorities to safeguard strategic autonomy and prevent undue influence from undesired…
Introduction In April and May 2024, the scope of the ex-officio procedure was significantly expanded in updated guidelines published by the Belgian FDI authority, whereas the broad interpretation of ex-officio power by the Dutch FDI regulator was limited by a district court ruling. In the UK, the scope of ex-officio powers remains unchanged, but recently updated guidelines clarify in greater detail the cases where it may be applied. This highlights the divergence of approach of…
Please join Baker McKenzie and ICPA for a fireside chat with Assistant Secretary Axelrod (U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security) where he will share his insights on what to expect in the year ahead for export enforcement. Assistant Secretary Axelrod will provide his perspectives on Bureau of Industry and Security priorities and the multilateral enforcement framework that is emerging globally. At a time when export enforcement priorities are changing rapidly following Russia’s invasion of…
Elena Roca Umbert, Laura González and Valeria Enrich The Spanish government has modified, once again and with immediate effect from 28 December 2022, Spanish foreign direct investment (“FDI”) rules that were introduced in March 2020 in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes that have been introduced are twofold:1. The first change is the extension until 31 December 2024 of the suspension of the liberalisation regime of foreign direct investment by residents of EU or…
The Annual Compliance Conference begins next week and attracts over 6,000 in-house senior legal and compliance professionals from across the world. This leading compliance conference will be held across five weeks from 6 September – 6 October 2022 We will be virtually delivering our cutting-edge insights and guidance on key global compliance, investigations and ethics issues. Our global experts will provide practical insights and analysis on significant developments:• anti-bribery• corruption and economic crime• customs and…
Our popular Annual Compliance Conference, which attracts over 6,000 in-house senior legal and compliance professionals from across the world, will be held across five weeks from 6 September – 6 October 2022. We will be virtually delivering our cutting-edge insights and guidance on key global compliance, investigations and ethics issues. Our global experts will provide practical insights and analysis on significant developments across: anti-briberycorruption and economic crimecustoms and FTAsESG, supply chain and product complianceantitrust and…
Only 8 out of 265 foreign investments notified under the EU Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”) Screening Regulation (“Regulation”) have resulted in mitigation measures, according to the first annual report on the Regulation. The Regulation was launched in October 2020 with the aim of improving cooperation between Member States and enabling governments to better monitor FDI in strategic industries, for example critical technology, infrastructure, healthcare and infrastructure (see our previous post on the Regulation here). The…
On 10 September 2021, an order (arrêté) of the French minister of economy was adopted to extend the list of critical technologies in the strategic sectors definition to include technologies related to renewable energy production. The order (arrêté) also increased the list of information and documentation to be filed with a prior authorization application to comply with the EU regulation dated 19 March 2019, which establishes a framework for the screening of foreign direct investment…
The EU-US Trade and Technology Council (“TCC”), set up at the June 2021 EU-US Summit, held its first meeting on 29 September 2021 in Pittsburgh, USA. The objectives of the TCC are to “coordinate approaches to key global technology, economic, and trade issues; and to deepen transatlantic trade and economic relations, basing policies on shared democratic values”. The TCC Inaugural Joint Statement (the “Joint Statement”) discusses outcomes in respect of five key areas including export…
On June 3, 2021, President Biden issued a Memorandum on Establishing the Fight Against Corruption as a Core United States National Security Interest (the “Memo”).[1] The Memo instructs over 15 US Federal Government departments and agencies to conduct an interagency review to examine corruption as a national security threat and jointly develop a strategy that will significantly enhance the United States’ ability to combat corruption. This review and mandate established by the Memo represents…