The U.S. Prohibition of the MineOne-Acquisition: What would be the treatment under EU and German Foreign Direct Investment Legislation?

Benedikt Sichla

By Benedikt Sichla, Research assistant at Clifford Chance  1. Introduction On May 13, 2024, President Biden issued an order prohibiting for national security reasons the acquisition of real estate and the operation of a cryptocurrency mining facility in close proximity to a U.S. Air Force base. The foreign ownership of the acquirer by nationals of…

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Foreign Direct Investment in Thailand

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Lukas Baumgärtner, Mag. Iur, LL.M., Attorney at Law at Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft (Bangkok and Yangon)   I. INTRODUCTION Thailand has demonstrated a significant trajectory of economic development over recent decades, with foreign direct investment (ʺFDIʺ) being an important contributor to this success. FDI inflows stood at USD 10 billion in 2022, down by 31.5% compared…

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The First Court Decision on the Austrian FDI Screening Regime

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By  Dr. Johannes Barbist,  Binder Grösswang   I. Introduction A regular CELIS blog reader will know already: Austria is at the forefront of EU jurisdictions when it comes to FDI filings submitted to the EU cooperation mechanism (counted by population, see here for a compilation of the data). However, until very recently there were no…

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Conference on Investment Screening in Austria

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

On Thursday, 13. June 2024, the second edition of the annual conference on investment screening in Austria and the EU will take place at the University of Vienna. The aim is to convene experts from academia and legal practice to discuss topical issues of investment screening and further legal initiatives designed to strengthen the EU’s open…

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Corporate Sustainability in the EU and the Obstacle Race to Eliminate Products of Forced Labour: a Pyrrhic Victory?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Nicola Mongelli, LL.M (University of Antwerp) Introduction On the 23rd of April 2024, the European Parliament (EP), concluded the first reading of the text of the upcoming Regulation prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market. This contribution will comment on the Regulation on Products of Forced Labour (PFL Regulation), addressing some…

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KlimaSeniorinnen: how did the ECtHR define States’ climate policy obligations?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

Charlotte Dierickx-Visschers is a student researcher and LLM student at the University of Antwerp. She mainly focuses on sustainable development, environmental justice and fundamental rights law.  On the 9th of April, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered three long-awaited rulings involving States’ obligations to mitigate climate change. Whereas two cases were declared inadmissible,…

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The Role of US Investments for EU Technology Sovereignty

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

Dr Matthias Bauer,  Director at ECIPE and Ms Dyuti Pandya, Junior Analyst at ECIPE   Industry data point to a considerable investment disparity between US and EU digital companies, underscoring the role of US tech investments in the EU’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector and highlighting the mutual interdependence between the two regions. In…

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What Role For Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises After The Presidential Elections?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Pierfrancesco Mattiolo, University of Antwerp   The Indonesian economy is growing at a rapid pace, following a model that combines free market principles with State planning. During the administration of President Joko Widodo, State-Owned Enterprises have gained even more prominence. How will his successor Prabowo Subianto wield this tool?  Over the next twenty years,…

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Investment Screening in the UK under the 2021 National Security and Investment Act

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Agata Daszko, University of Göttingen   In recent years the United Kingdom (UK) has joined many States in updating its legislation concerning scrutiny of national security issues when it comes to investments made in key or sensitive sectors. Indeed, the UK’s approach to investment screening underwent a significant transformation with the introduction of the…

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The Politization of Trade Defence Instruments

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Victor Crochet and Weihuan Zhou   Trade defence instruments used to be described as dull and technical, of little interest except as a money maker for a handful of trade lawyers in Washington, Brussels and other administrative capitals. There are two main trade defence instruments aimed at protecting Members of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”)…

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Digital Trade And Investment Screening: Friends Or Foes?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Murilo Lubambo, University College London Entry of Foreign Investments and Digital Trade  This blog post discusses how investment screening activities by states may have an impact on digital trade. In other words, to what extent does investment screening constitute a restriction that affects the integration of digital trade between countries on a global basis? …

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Austria – The Investment Control “Powerhouse”

By Dr. Regina Kröll and Dr. Johannes Barbist, Binder Grösswang Disclaimer: This post was first published on the Binder Grösswang Law Blog On 25 July 2020, the Austrian Investment Control Act (Investitionskontrollgesetz – ICA) entered into force and started a new era of foreign direct investment (FDI) screening in Austria. This report aims at providing…

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The notion of “security” in foreign trade law – Theory and Practice

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Dr. Carsten Bormann, Oppenhoff & Partner* 1. Introduction: All about security? The screening of foreign direct investment has gradually evolved from the traditional protection of vital national security interests through the prevention of outsourcing and the drain of specialized technological capabilities to the protection of geostrategic interests and the enforcement of industrial strategies. The…

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The EU Anti-Coercion Instrument: Anti-What, Exactly?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Johannes Schäffer, Berlin School of Economics and Law* In February 2021, the Commission acknowledged the concerns of the Parliament and Member States regarding coercive practices by “certain third countries”. Having identified a regulatory gap, it committed to “examine a possible instrument, which could be adopted in order to dissuade or offset coercive actions by…

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Chinese Investments in the EU, National Security, and Investor-State Arbitration

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Dr. Szilárd Gáspár-Szilágyi, Birmingham University School of Law Disclaimer: This blogpost is based on a recent publication by the author in the Journal of International Dispute Settlement (Oxford University Press), entitled ‘When the Dragon Comes Home to Roost. Chinese Investments in the EU, National Security, and Investor-State Arbitration.’ The data for the publication was…

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Janus-Faced Competition Policy: For or Against FDI?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - November 2023

By Sergio Mariotti, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy  Scenario The dark side of globalisation has become visible in recent years, unfolding a series of toxic effects: uneven development among countries and regions of the world; imbalances and instability in the global order; social inequalities among peoples; and economic,…

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FDI Screening Regulation 2.0: Towards Greater Regulatory Convergence?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - November 2023

By Sophie Bohnert, Vienna University of Economics and Business/College of Europe Background The current Regulation on the Screening of Foreign Direct Investment into the Union (the “FDI Screening Regulation” or the “Regulation”) has sometimes been described as a first step towards a more comprehensive Europeanisation of investment control legislation and possibly even a supranationalisation of…

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Politicization and Securitization of the 5G Rollout: What Role for International Economic Law?

Iryna Bogdanova

By Iryna Bogdanova, KFG ‘The International Rule of Law – Rise or Decline?’ 5G: economic implications of its rollout and relevant national security risks The 5G network, as the fifth generation of cellular networks, signifies a groundbreaking transition from its predecessors (2G, 3G, and 4G/LTE). Described as a “disruptive” and “transformational” technology, its distinguishing feature…

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Is the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation compatible with WTO Law?

CELIS Update on Investment Screening - December 2023

By Pierfrancesco Mattiolo, University of Antwerp  The blog post summarizes parts of the article ‘The EU’s New Regime on Foreign Subsidies: Has the Time Come for a Paradigm-Shift?’ published by Professor Csongor Nagy in the Journal of World Trade. The paper is available here. State Capitalist Economies and the WTO It is no mystery that,…

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