A new regime for examining business transactions from a national security standpoint is on the way: Sophia Purkis & Judith Davidge provide an overview
- The National Security and Investment Bill 2019-2021 includes a new regulatory regime to further scrutinise corporate transactions.
- The Bill’s provisions are intended to protect national security while facilitating global investment in the UK market.
The much-anticipated National Security and Investment Bill 2019-2021 was introduced in the House of Commons on 11 November 2020 and is expected to come into force before the summer, although its provisions came into effect from 12 November 2020.
The Bill aims to introduce a new regime for reviewing and intervening in business transactions (eg takeovers) that might raise national security concerns. It has four main aims, to:
- enable the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to ‘call in’ acquisitions of sensitive entitles and assets (‘trigger events’) to understand a national security assessment. This can happen up to five years after a trigger event has occurred;
- require proposed acquirers of sensitive entries and
