UK Parliament to Conduct Oversight of FDI Reviews
The U.K. government and Parliament's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee officially agreed on an oversight deal last month that will allow lawmakers to scrutinize U.K. foreign investment review decisions. The deal, outlined in a memorandum of understanding first agreed to in 2021, was delayed by “ministerial changes” within the BEIS Committee as well as “lengthy negotiations on the substance,” Linklaters said in a recent client alert.
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Under the MOU, the BEIS Committee said it will be able to scrutinize completed cases by the U.K.’s Investment Security Unit, which is “consistent with the approach of international counterparts that have had equivalent scrutiny regimes in force for some time, such as the United States.” Members of Parliament will “look at how decisions were reached to see if and how the review process can be improved.”
Linklaters said companies “need clarity and predictability” around the U.K.’s foreign investment reviews, and the oversight agreement could help. “The aim was that a degree of external scrutiny would give businesses confidence that there was independent oversight of the ISU process,” the firm said.