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The UK government on Monday (15 November) released a new set of guidelines to help businesses understand their legal duties under the NSI Act.
The act will come into force on 4 January 2022, and is the biggest shake-up in 20 years of the UK’s system for screening investments for risks to national security.
From 4 January 2022, the government will be able to scrutinise and intervene in certain acquisitions made by anyone, including businesses and investors, which could harm the UK’s national security.
The government will be able to impose certain conditions on an acquisition or, if necessary, unwind or block it.
The guidance covers a number of aspects of the law and helps businesses and investors to:
“The new investment screening process will be simpler and quicker, giving investors and firms the certainty they need to do business, and I urge them to make sure they are ready for the changes before they come into force in January,” Business Minister Lord Callanan said.
On Monday (15 November), the government also laid two pieces of secondary legislation. These are:
The new pieces of legislation build on guidance issued in July that covered:
On 2 November, the Secretary of State published a statement on how he expects to exercise the power to call in acquisitions under the NSI Act (the “Section 3 Statement”). This statement sets out the risk factors that he will take into account when making a decision about calling in an acquisition, and the areas of the economy where a call-in is most likely to take place.