The final regulations setting out the sectors where notification of transactions will be mandatory under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 have been made. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has also published further guidance on the new regime.
The Act, which comes into force on 4 January 2022, gives the UK Government power to scrutinise a wide range of transactions on national security grounds, and will introduce mandatory notification of transactions in some sectors.
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (Notifiable Acquisition) (Specification of Qualifying Entities) Regulations 2021 set out the 17 sectors, and the activities which an entity must carry on within a specified sector, in order for notification of a transaction to be mandatory.
BEIS has published Guidance on notifiable acquisitions which contains additional guidance on the 17 sectors, with examples of where entities will and will not be in scope.
BEIS has also published General guidance on the new rules, which gives an overview of when the regime will apply and describes how the notification process will work. Regulations specifying the form and content of notifications under the Act have also been made.
Our updated briefing on the regime is available here.
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