On Tuesday, 23 November, the European Commission published a report on certain measures that should protect EU interests and security. It reports on actions taken within the framework of two regulations that enable foreign investments to be screened and the export of dual-use goods, products that can have both civil and military uses, to be controlled.
It is a question of preventing foreigners from acquiring sensitive EU technologies and limiting the export of such technologies abroad.
Investment screening
In 2019, the EU adopted new rules to enable cooperation and information to be exchanged between Member States that are screening foreign investments and the European Commission. The latter can now express an opinion on certain investment cases. The regulation also allows Member States that are not directly concerned by an investment to know the potential impact on their territory. For its part, the European Commission wanted to be able to assess potential risks on large-scale EU projects, such as Galileo, for example.
In its report, the institution indicates that 1,793 investment dossiers were submitted for approval in Member States in 2020. Of these investment applications, 2% were denied, and 12% were approved, subject to certain conditions.
The majority of screened investors are from the United States (45%), the United Kingdom (9%), China (8%), Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. The most affected sectors are manufacturing, ICT, and wholesale.
The report tells the European Commission that the mechanism in place is working well. The institution expects more notifications in future thanks not only to the rebound in investments related to the economic situation but also to the future implementation of screening mechanisms in all Member States.
At present, only 18 countries have a mechanism in place or under review, 3 do not have one, and 6 are in the process of developing such systems.
Dual-use export controls
The regulation authorising dual-use export controls was updated in 2021 (see EUROPE 12717/4) to allow more products to be included in its scope, including those related to cybersurveillance as well as technologies that will emerge in the future.
The European Commission’s report indicates that 30,292 export applications were submitted in 2020. Of these, 603 were denied.
The main export destinations for these products are the United States, China, and Switzerland followed by Russia and Singapore.
See both reports: https://bit.ly/3CFhxnD (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)