The Government has announced that the new National Security and Investment Act 2021 will come fully into force on 4 January 2022. This means that mandatory notification requirements will apply to relevant transactions completing on or after that date, and other transactions (including those which have already completed since 12 November 2020) may be the subject of the Secretary of State’s call-in powers as of that date.
The Act will overhaul the review of transactions and investments on national security grounds in the UK. The new regime represents an important new execution risk factor, with a similar risk profile to merger control rules (see the briefing we published when the Act received royal assent for more information).
The Government has also published four new pieces of guidance to assist business, investors and advisers:
- NSI Act Overview: prepare for new rules about acquisitions which could harm the UK’s national security
- How the National Security and Investment Act could affect people or acquisitions outside the UK
- The National Security and Investment Act alongside regulatory requirements and
- NSI Guidance for the Higher Education and Research-Intensive sectors
The Government has also published a draft of the notifiable acquisition regulations, as well as a consultation draft of the Statement of Policy Intent.
For further information, see this blog post published by our Competition, Regulation and Trade team. We will publish a more substantive briefing in due course.
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