The EU Commission publishes its first official guidance on the application of the FDI Regulation and states that during the COVID-19 pandemic there could be an increased risk of attempts to acquire healthcare capacities

On March 25, 2020, the European Commission (EC) published its first official guidance (the Guidance) on the application of Regulation 2019/452 (the FDI Regulation), which created a new framework for screening foreign direct investments (FDI) into the European Union (EU). The EC noted that, in the context of the COVID-19 emergency, there could be an increased risk of attempts to acquire healthcare capacities (for example for the production of medical or protective equipment) or related industries, such as research establishments (for instance developing vaccines). The FDI Regulation must be applied by EU Member States only as from October 2020. The Guidance’s issuance more than six months early may have been inspired by widespread reports that the U.S. government tried to acquire a German