The Law Society made several recommendations for amending the Bill which serve to place limits on, and provide a framework for, the scope of government intervention. Among the many recommendations are:
• placing a definition of ‘national security’ for the purposes of the Bill
• shortening the timeframe within which the Secretary of State can make a call-in notice from five years to two
• placing more restrictive definitions on qualifying entities and assets for the purposes of the legislation
• tightening the scope of trigger events to avoid the capture of minority investors, and intra-group investments
• replacing the automatic voiding of notifiable acquisitions which have not followed procedural requirements, with a provision for voiding on the order of the Secretary of State
• urging the government to consult on how the review procedure for relevant transactions would take place, considering the quasi-judicial powers the Secretary of State would have in the matter, and the impracticality of appealing decisions to the High Court
To read the full list of recommendations, click here.
Source: Parliamentary briefing: National Security and Investment Bill – House of Lords report stage
This content was first published by LNB News / Lexis®Library, a LexisNexis® company, on 15 April 2021 and is published with permission. Further information can be found at: https://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/
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