Considerations on COM(2024)23 - Screening of foreign investments in the Union - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)23 - Screening of foreign investments in the Union. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2024)23 |
| date | January 24, 2024 |
1. Article 3(5) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) specifies that the Union, in its relations with the wider world, is to uphold and promote its values and interests and contribute to the protection of its citizens. Moreover, the Union and Member States have an open investment environment, which is enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and embedded in the Union and its Member States’ international commitments.
2. However, under international commitments made in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the trade and investment agreements concluded with third countries, it is possible for the Union and Members States to restrict foreign direct investments (FDIs) on the grounds of security or public order, subject to certain requirements.
3. In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council0 a framework has been set up for screening FDIs into the Union by Member States. In particular, that Regulation has set out a cooperation mechanism enabling Member States and the Commission to exchange information on FDIs and raise concerns about risks to security or public order. That cooperation mechanism required the Member State where the FDI was planned or completed to give due consideration to the comments issued by other Member States and the opinion issued by the Commission in its screening decision.
4. The framework set up in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/452 has delivered on its objective to provide a formal mechanism for Member States and the Commission to exchange information on FDIs and to raise awareness on cross-border risks to security or public order arising from certain FDIs.
5. However, a new legislative instrument is needed to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of Regulation (EU) 2019/452 and ensure a higher degree of harmonisation across the Union.
6. Certain investments not covered by Regulation (EU) 2019/452 could create risks for the Union’s security and public order. In particular, this concerns certain investments carried out in Member States that do not have a screening mechanism; investments carried out in Member States that have a screening mechanism whose scope does not include certain sensitive investments; and investments that are made by foreign investors through a subsidiary established in the Union and that potentially present the same risks to security or public order as direct investments made from third countries.
7. A significant majority of Member States, but not all, have a legislative instrument in place that provides for a mechanism to screen FDIs. In many Member States, national laws also extend to screening intra-Union investments. Among the Member States, there are substantial differences as to the scope, thresholds and criteria used to assess whether an investment is likely to negatively affect security or public order. There are also differences in the screening processes. In certain Member States, the investment can be implemented before having received clearance with respect to the impact on security and public order. However, others require that the investment is only finalised after authorisation under the screening mechanism. Such divergences create a problem for the smooth functioning of the internal market. For example, they create an uneven playing field and increase compliance costs for investors seeking to notify transactions in more than one Member State. This Regulation helps in reducing divergences on key elements of the mechanisms implemented at national level. This is crucial to ensure predictability for investors on the applicable national regimes and their characteristics, thereby reducing the associated compliance costs. This is all the more relevant considering the level of integration of internal market, which may result in a single transaction impacting multiple Member States across the Union. It is for example possible that a transaction aimed to the acquisition of a target company in one Member State also affects security and public order in another Member State, due to the supply chain structure or other economic elements connecting the target with other companies based in a different Member States. In order to address these internal market problems and ensure greater consistency and predictability, it is appropriate that the criteria and elements to be used for the assessment of foreign investments are established through Union action.
1. To ensure a consistent approach to foreign investment screening across the Union, all Member States should be required to screen foreign investments on the grounds of security or public order. Therefore, the core elements of national screening mechanisms should be harmonised. That minimum harmonisation includes the scope of investments to be screened, the screening procedure’s essential features, and the interaction between the national mechanism and the Union cooperation mechanism. In addition, Member States should also be able to extend the scope of their national screening mechanism to include other types of foreign investments, foreign investments in other sectors, additional Union targets or economic activities that the relevant Member State considers critical for its security or public order. When they do so, such screening should also comply with the provisions of this Regulation.
8. Regulation (EU) 2019/452 only covers FDIs made from third countries into the Union. However, it is also necessary to extend the scope of the cooperation mechanism to investments made between Member States, where the investor in one Member State is controlled, directly or indirectly, by a foreign entity regardless of whether the ultimate owner is located in the Union or elsewhere. In particular, this extended scope is appropriate to ensure that any investment creating a lasting link between the foreign investor and the Union target, whether it is carried out directly by a foreign investor or through an entity established in the Union and controlled by a foreign investor, is consistently captured and assessed. This should foster the consistency and predictability of screening rules across Member States, which in turn will reduce compliance costs for foreign investors and limit incentives to target an investment in Member States where such transactions are out of scope.
9. Investments in Union targets carried out by foreign investors, including investments executed through a controlled entity in the Union, may present specific risks to security and public order in the Union and its Member States. Such investor-related risks should not be present and therefore do not need to be addressed in an investment that only involves entities where no ownership, control, connection to or influence from foreign investors is present, including when a foreign investor participates in the Union entity without a controlling stake. Avoiding any divergence in the rules applicable to the treatment of foreign investments, regardless of whether they are made from outside the Union directly or through an entity already established in the Union, is necessary to ensure a coherent investment screening framework and the Union control mechanism. This framework reflects the importance of protecting security and public order and is exclusively targeted at risks that may arise from investments involving foreign entities. Therefore, Member States should ensure at least the screening of those foreign investments, which relate to projects or programmes of Union interest or where the Union target is active in areas, where a foreign investment may affect security or public order in more than one Member State. Member States should also be able to screen other foreign investments. When they do so, such screening should also comply with the provisions of this Regulation. Transactions with no foreign investor involvement or in which the level of involvement does not lead to the direct or indirect control of the Union entity are not covered by this Regulation.
10. Screening foreign investments should be carried out in accordance with this Regulation, taking into account all factual information available and adhering to the principle of proportionality and other principles enshrined in the Treaties. Moreover, the screening of foreign investments which are carried out through subsidiaries of the foreign investor established in the Union should in all cases comply with the requirements stemming from Union law, and in particular with the Treaty provisions on freedom of establishment and free movement of capital, as interpreted in the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, consistently with the objective of preserving an open and inclusive internal market. Any restrictions to the freedom of establishment and free movement of capital in the Union, including the screening and measures arising from screening, such as mitigating measures and prohibitions should be based on a genuine and sufficiently serious threat to a fundamental interest of society, and should be appropriate and necessary as set out in the case law of the Court of Justice. At the same time, when assessing the justification and proportionality of a restriction, the specificities of investments within the Union operated through a subsidiary of a foreign investor may be taken into account when assessing any restrictions on freedom of establishment or to the free movement of capital, including where appropriate in any Commission opinion adopted pursuant to this Regulation. This should be done taking into account the integration of Member State schemes into a Union-wide cooperation mechanism.
11. To enable the cooperation mechanism laid down in this Regulation to function efficiently and effectively, it is necessary to define a minimum common scope for foreign investments that all Member States should notify to the cooperation mechanism. Member States should remain free to notify foreign investments outside the scope of this Regulation.
12. It is also necessary to make the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or completed more accountable to the Commission and to those Member States that express duly justified concerns for their public order or security or the Union’s.
13. The common framework set out in this Regulation should be without prejudice to the sole responsibility of Member States to safeguard their national security as provided for in Article 4(2) TEU. It should also be without prejudice to the protection of their essential security interests in accordance with Article 346 TFEU.
14. Foreign investments that create or maintain lasting and direct links between investors from third countries (including state bodies) and Union targets carrying out an economic activity in a Member State should fall within the scope of this Regulation. This should apply where those investments are directly carried out from third countries or by a Union entity with foreign control. However, the framework should not cover the acquisition of company securities intended purely for financial investment without any intention to influence the management and control of the undertaking (portfolio investments). Restructuring operations within a group of companies or a merger of more than one legal entities into a single legal entity do not constitute a foreign investment, provided that there is no increase in the shares held by foreign investors, or the transaction does not result in additional rights that may lead to a change in the effective participation of one or more foreign investors in the management or control of a Union target.
15. Greenfield foreign investments occur where the foreign investor or a foreign investor’s subsidiary in the Union sets up new facilities or a new undertaking in the Union. Greenfield foreign investments should fall within the scope of this Regulation to the extent they are considered relevant by a Member State for the purpose of the screening of foreign investments because they create lasting and direct links between a foreign investor and such facilities or such undertakings. In addition, by setting up new facilities, a foreign investor can impact on security and public order, including when that risk concerns essential economic inputs. Member States are therefore encouraged to include greenfield foreign investments in the scope of transactions covered by their screening mechanisms, in particular when such investments occur in sectors relevant to their security or public order or when they present characteristics such as size or essential nature to be relevant to their security or public order.
16. To ensure consistent and predictable screening processes, it is appropriate to lay down the essential features of the screening mechanisms to be implemented by Member States. Those features should at least include the scope of the transactions to be subject to an authorisation requirement, deadlines for the screening and the possibility for undertakings concerned by the screening decision to seek recourse against such decisions. Rules and procedures relating to screening mechanisms should be transparent and should not discriminate between third countries.
17. The cooperation mechanism laid down in Regulation (EU) 2019/452 enables Member States to cooperate and help each other where a foreign direct investment in one Member State could affect the security or public order of other Member States or of projects or programmes of Union interest. This mechanism has proven very useful so far, hence it should be maintained and strengthened under this Regulation.
2. To ensure that foreign investments likely to negatively affect security or public order in the Union are adequately identified, Member States should screen foreign investments where the Union target is part of or participates in a project or programme of Union interest or where the Union target’s economic activity relates to a technology, asset, facility, equipment, network, system or service of particular importance for the security or public order interests of the Union. In addition to these criteria, screening mechanisms may apply to other sectors, Union targets or economic activities that the relevant Member State considers critical for its security or public order.
3. To ensure that the cooperation mechanism focuses only on those foreign investments where the characteristics of the foreign investor or the Union target make an effect on security or public order likely, it is appropriate to establish risk-based conditions for the notification of foreign investments undergoing screening in a Member State to the other Member States and the Commission. Where a foreign investment does not meet any of the conditions, the Member State where the foreign investment is undergoing screening may notify the foreign investment to the other Member States and the Commission, including where the Union target has significant operations in other Member States, or belongs to a corporate group that has several companies in different Member States.
18. To ensure that the likely effect of a foreign investments on the security or public order of one or more Member States is adequately identified, Member States should be able to provide comments to a Member State in which a foreign investment is planned or has been completed even if that Member State is not screening that foreign investment or if the foreign investment is screened but not notified to the cooperation mechanism. Requests for information, replies and comments from Member States should be notified to the Commission simultaneously.
4. To ensure that the likely effect of a foreign investment on the security or public order of more than one Member States or the Union as a whole is adequately identified, it should be possible for the Commission to issue an opinion within the meaning of Article 288 TFEU to the Member State in which the foreign investment is planned or has been completed, even if that foreign investment is not undergoing screening in that Member State or if that foreign investment is screened but not notified to the cooperation mechanism.
19. Furthermore, to allow the protection of security or public order where the likely effect emanates from a foreign investment into a Union target that provides for the development, maintenance or acquisition of infrastructure, technologies or inputs, which are critical for the Union as a whole, the Commission should be allowed to issue an opinion. This would give the Commission a tool to protect projects and programmes which serve the Union as a whole and represent an important contribution to the Union’s security or public order. A Commission opinion identifying the likely impact on projects or programmes of Union interest on the grounds of security or public order should be notified to all Member States.
20. Furthermore, it should be possible for the Commission to adopt an opinion addressed to all Member States if it identifies several foreign investments that, taken together, are likely to impact the security or public order of the Union. This could notably be the case where several foreign investments present comparable characteristics. These include where the foreign investments are made by the same foreign investor, or foreign investors presenting similar risks, or where several foreign investments concern the same target or the same infrastructure, including trans-European infrastructure for transport, energy and communication. Member States and the Commission should discuss the risk analysis and the possible ways to address the risks identified in the opinion.
21. To protect security or public order while providing greater certainty to investors, Member States should have the possibility to make comments and the Commission should have the possibility to issue an opinion on foreign investments that have been completed but not notified up to 15 months after the completion of the foreign investment.
22. For greater clarity, the list of projects or programmes of Union interest should be listed in Annex I. These should include any foreign investments undertaken on the trans-European networks for transport, energy and communication, as well as programmes providing funding for research and development for activities relevant for the security or public order of the Union. Due to the importance of these projects and programmes for the security and public order of the Union, Member States should screen foreign investments into Union undertakings that are part of or participating in these projects or programmes, including those that receive funding from the Union.
23. In order to ensure that the likely effect of a foreign investment on the security or public order of one or more Member States is adequately addressed, Member States receiving duly justified comments from other Member States or an opinion from the Commission should give such comments or opinion utmost consideration, including where it considers that its own security or public order is not affected. The Member State should coordinate with the Commission and the Member States concerned if necessary and provide them with written feedback on the decision taken and how the comments and the opinion have been given utmost consideration. The final decision on foreign investments should remain the sole responsibility of the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or completed.
24. To ensure the effective functioning of the cooperation mechanism, it is important to require that the Member State notifying the foreign investment to the cooperation mechanism provides a minimum level of information in a standardised format. Where the cooperation concerns a foreign investment not notified to the cooperation mechanism, the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or has been completed should be able to provide at least the same minimum level of information. The Commission and Member States may seek additional information from the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or completed. Such request for additional information should be duly justified, limited to the information necessary for the Member States to provide comments or for the Commission to issue an opinion, proportionate to the purpose of the request and not unduly burdensome for the notifying Member State.
25. To ensure that the cooperation is based on complete and accurate information, a foreign investor or an undertaking should provide any relevant information requested by the Member State where they are established or the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or completed. In exceptional circumstances, when, despite its best efforts, a Member State is unable to obtain an information requested by another Member State or the Commission, it should notify them without delay. In such a case, any comment issued by another Member State, or any opinion issued by the Commission as part of the cooperation mechanism should be based on the information available to them.
26. To ensure that the cooperation mechanism is only used for the purpose of protecting security or public order, Member States should duly justify any request for information about a specific foreign investment in another Member State and any comment they issue to that Member State. The same requirements apply when the Commission requests information about a particular foreign investment or issues an opinion to a Member State.
27. Member States or the Commission, as appropriate, might consider relevant information received from economic operators, civil society organisations, social partners (such as trade unions) about a foreign investment likely to negatively affect security or public order.
28. A Member State where a foreign investment is planned or has been completed may inform other Member States or the Commission if it wishes them to further analyse one or more aspects of a foreign investment that the cooperation mechanism is assessing or becomes aware of new circumstances or new information that may impact the assessment of the foreign investment. The other Member States and the Commission may then be granted additional time to complement their assessment of the foreign investment.
29. To ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the cooperation mechanism, it is necessary to align deadlines and procedures when several foreign investments linked to the same broader transaction are screened in several Member States. In such multi-country transactions, the applicant should file the different requests for authorisation in the Member States concerned simultaneously. In addition, those Member States should notify the requests simultaneously to the cooperation mechanism. To ensure an efficient handling of these multi-country transactions, the Member States concerned should coordinate and agree on whether the foreign investments are notifiable and when they should be notified. Furthermore, the Member States concerned should also coordinate on the final decision. If the Member States concerned intend to authorise the foreign investment with conditions, they should ensure that these conditions are compatible with one another and address cross-border risks adequately. Before prohibiting a foreign investment, the Member States concerned should consider whether a conditional authorisation with coordinated measures and their coordinated enforcement is not sufficient to address the likely effect on security or public order. The Commission should be able to participate in such coordination.
30. To ensure a consistent approach to the screening of investments across the Union, it is essential that the standards and criteria used to assess likely risks to security and public order are those set at Union level in this Regulation. Those should include the impact on the security, integrity and functioning of critical infrastructure, the availability of critical technologies (including key enabling technologies) and the continued supply of critical inputs for security or public order, the disruption, failure, loss or destruction of which would have a significant impact on security and public order in one or more Member States or on the Union as a whole. In that regard, Member States and the Commission should also take into account the context and circumstances of the foreign investment. This should include, in particular, whether an investor is controlled directly or indirectly, for example through significant funding, by the government of a third country or is involved in pursuing policy objectives of third countries to facilitate their military capabilities. In this context, if applicable, Member States and the Commission should also consider why the foreign investor, its beneficial owner or any of its subsidiaries or a person acting on behalf or at the direction of such a foreign investor is subject to any type of Union restrictive measures pursuant to Article 215 TFEU.
31. Where the Member State where the foreign investment is planned or completed considers that a foreign investment is likely to negatively affect security or public order in the Union, it is appropriate to require that Member State to take appropriate measures to mitigate the risks, where such measures are available, and it considers them adequate, taking into utmost consideration the comments issued by other Member States and the opinion issued by the Commission, if applicable. Foreign investments should be prohibited only on an exceptional basis, and where mitigating measures or measures available under Union or national law other than the screening mechanism are not sufficient to mitigate the effect on security or public order.
32. To support the implementation of the cooperation mechanism and to foster the exchange of good practices among Member States, the expert group on the screening of foreign investments set up pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/452 should be maintained.
33. Member States should notify their screening mechanisms and any amendment to them to the Commission. They should report to the public on the application of their screening mechanisms annually on relevant legislative developments and the activities of the screening authority, including aggregate data on the transactions screened, the outcome of screening procedures, the nationalities of parties to foreign investments and the economic sectors in which those transactions took place.
34. To ensure the efficacy of the coordination mechanism, the contact points put in place by Member States and the Commission should be suitably placed in the respective administrations. The contact points should have the qualified staff and powers needed to carry out their work under the coordination mechanism and ensure a proper handling of confidential information.
35. Member States and the Commission should be encouraged to cooperate with the responsible authorities of like-minded third countries on issues related to the screening of foreign investments that could affect security or public order. Such administrative cooperation should aim to strengthen the effectiveness of the framework for screening foreign investments by Member States and the cooperation between Member States and the Commission pursuant to this Regulation. The Commission should be kept informed of such bilateral contacts to the extent that they relate to systemic issues related to investment screening. It should also be possible for the Commission to monitor developments with regard to screening mechanisms in third countries.
36. Member States and the Commission shall ensure the confidentiality of the information they provide or receive in application of this Regulation, in accordance with national and Union law. Where the unauthorised disclosure of information would cause varying degrees of prejudice to the interests of the European Union, or of one or more of the Member States, the originator of the information should classify the information in accordance with national and Union law. When responding to requests of access to documents handled in application of this Regulation, Member States and the Commission shall coordinate and provide at least the level of protection of the protected interests available under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) 1049/20010, with a view to protect the purpose of investigations. The Commission should take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of confidential information in compliance with, in particular, Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/4430 and Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/4440. Similarly, Member States and the Commission should take all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the Agreement between the Member States of the European Union, meeting within the Council, regarding the protection of classified information exchanged in the interests of the Union0. This includes, in particular, the obligation not to downgrade or declassify classified information without the prior written consent of the originator. Any non-classified sensitive information or information which is provided on a confidential basis should be handled as such by the authorities.
37. Any processing of personal data pursuant to this Regulation should comply with the applicable rules on the protection of personal data. Processing of personal data by the contact points and other entities within Member States should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council0. Processing of personal data by the Commission should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council0.
5. The Commission should draw up an annual report on the implementation of this Regulation and submit it to the European Parliament and to the Council. For greater transparency, the report should be made public. The report should be based on, among other things, reports submitted by all Member States to the Commission on a confidential basis with due respect to the need to ensure the protection of the confidentiality of certain information, in particular where the publication of data could affect the security or public order of the Union or jeopardise commercial confidentiality.
38. The Commission should evaluate the functioning and effectiveness of this Regulation 5 years after the date of application of this Regulation and every 5 years after that and present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council. That report should include an assessment of whether or not this Regulation should be amended. Where the report proposes amending this Regulation, it may be accompanied by a legislative proposal.
39. The implementation of this Regulation by the Union and the Member States should comply with the relevant requirements for imposing restrictive measures on the grounds of security and public order laid down in the WTO agreements, including, in particular, Article XIV(a) and Article XIV bis of the General Agreement on Trade in Services0 (GATS). It should also comply with the Union Treaties and be consistent with commitments made under other trade and investment agreements to which the Union or Member States are parties and trade and investment arrangements to which the Union or Member States are adherents.
40. When a foreign investment constitutes a concentration falling within the scope of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/20040, the application of this Regulation should be without prejudice to the application of Article 21(4) of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004. This Regulation and Article 21(4) of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 should be applied consistently. To the extent that the respective scope of application of those two Regulations overlap, the grounds for screening set out in Article 12 of this Regulation and the notion of legitimate interests within the meaning of Article 21(4), third subparagraph, of Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 should be interpreted coherently, without prejudice to the assessment of the compatibility of the national measures aimed at protecting those interests with the general principles and other provisions of Union law.
41. This Regulation should not affect Union rules on the prudential assessment of acquisitions of qualifying holdings in the financial sector, laid down by Directives 2009/138/EC0, 2013/36/EU0 and 2014/65/EU0 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which is a distinct procedure with a specific objective.
42. The application of this Regulation should be consistent with and without prejudice to other notification and authorisation procedures set out in Union law. The Commission should be allowed to use the information notified by the Member States to the cooperation mechanism to exercise its role of overseeing the application of Union law in accordance with Article 17 TEU.
43. In order to take into account developments relating to projects or programmes of Union interest and to adapt the list of technologies, assets, facilities, equipment, networks, systems, services and economic activities of particular importance for the security or public order interests of the Union, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amendments to the Annexes to this Regulation. The list of projects and programmes of Union interest set out in Annex I should cover projects or programmes covered by EU law which provide for the development, maintenance or acquisition of critical infrastructure, critical technologies or critical inputs which are essential for security or public order. The list of technologies, assets, facilities, equipment, networks, systems, services and economic activities of particular importance for the security or public order interests of the Union set out in Annex II should include areas where a foreign investment may affect security or public order in more than one Member State or in the Union as a whole through an Union target, which does not participate in or receive funds from a project or programme of Union interest. It is of particular importance that the Commission carries out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making0. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
44. In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, in particular as regards the form to be used to provide minimum information about foreign investments, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council0.
45. Regulation (EU) 2019/452 should be repealed. In order to allow sufficient time for Member States and entities to prepare for the implementation, this Regulation should apply as of [add date: 15 months after entry into force]. In the transitional period between the entry into force and the application of this Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2019/452 should continue to apply.