Council greenlights rules on screening of foreign direct investments

05 March 2019

The EU will soon have in place a set of new rules to better scrutinise direct investments coming from third countries on the grounds of security or public order.

The new rules on the screening of foreign direct investment will create a cooperation mechanism where member states and the Commission will be able to exchange information and raise specific concerns. Member states will nonetheless retain the power to review and potentially block foreign direct investment on security and public order grounds. The decision to set up and maintain national screening mechanisms will also remain in the hands of individual member states.

The Commission will be allowed to issue opinions in cases concerning several member states, or when an investment could affect a project or programme of interest to the whole EU, such as Horizon 2020 or Galileo.

Next steps

The regulation will be published on 21 March 2019. The new rules will enter into force twenty days later and will apply 18 months later.

Regulation establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union PE-CONS 72/18

Screening of investments: political agreement reached on an EU framework

Screening of investments: Council agrees its negotiating stance

© European Council