The UK Government introduces a national screening regime for foreign investments

On November 11, the UK Government proposed a new national security screening regime that would allow the Government to intervene in “potentially hostile” foreign investments that threatened UK national security while “ensuring the UK remains a global champion of free trade and an attractive place to invest.” [1] If approved by Parliament, the National Security and Investment Bill would introduce a mandatory and suspensory CFIUS-like regime with the following principal features: Transactions in defined sectors would require notification to, and pre-closing approval from, a new Investment Security Unit. Transactions that closed without clearance would be void.A Government minister would be the decision-maker, assessing the risk to national security and the need for and scope of any