Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea passed on 27 December 2024 a comprehensive amendment to the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology (산업기술의 유출방지 및 보호에 관한 법률, the "ITA" or "Industrial Technology Protection Act"), effective 22 July 2025. The amendment grants MOTIE direct statutory authority to block or reverse unapproved exports and overseas transactions involving National Core Technologies (NCTs) — including M&As, technology-transfer transactions, and foreign-investment events — without requiring interdepartmental coordination that was necessary under prior enforcement-decree authority. Entities already verified as NCT holders must complete formal registration with MOTIE within six months of the effective date (by approximately 22 January 2026). Punitive damages for wilful NCT infringement are raised from 3x to 5x actual damages, and criminal fines for overseas NCT leakage are raised from KRW 1.5 billion to KRW 6.5 billion.

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), in coordination with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, announced on 15 November 2024 amendments to the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and the Industrial Technology Protection Act introducing a notification + review regime for outbound investments by Korean firms in advanced semiconductor manufacturing or critical-component production in "strategic concern" jurisdictions, principally China. The regulation, effective 1 April 2025, requires Korean firms whose technology is designated as a "national core technology" (NCT) to obtain MOTIE approval before establishing or expanding overseas manufacturing facilities using that technology. The list includes Samsung's HBM, SK Hynix's DRAM/NAND advanced-node processes, and certain silicon-wafer technologies.

Decreto Supremo N° 020-2024-EM, published in El Peruano on 29 October 2024, declares private investment in mining activity to be of "public necessity" (necesidad pública) under Article 71 of the Peruvian Constitution, authorising GLOBETROTTERS RESOURCES PERU S.A.C. — a foreign-invested mining company — to acquire and hold mining concessions within Peru's constitutionally-restricted fifty-kilometre border zone. The decree sets procedural precedent for Article 71 case-by-case FDI carve-outs in large-scale mining and signals MINEM's operational posture on foreign-investor access to border-proximate mineral projects in the 2024-2026 Peruvian copper, silver, and zinc capex cycle.

Bahrain's Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued Decision No. 53 of 2024, amending the conditions governing foreign ownership in commercial activities, effective 18 October 2024. The reform permits 100% foreign ownership of commercial enterprises — including wholesale and retail trade and authorized distribution — without a mandatory Bahraini local partner, where the foreign company operates in at least 10 countries or generates annual revenue above EUR 750 million. It simultaneously reduces the minimum capital requirement for foreign-owned companies in Bahrain by 95%, from BHD 2,000,000 (~EUR 5m) to BHD 100,000 (~EUR 240,000), materially expanding the addressable foreign-investor pool to mid-market commercial enterprises.

The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted Law No. XIV-2985 on 26 September 2024, amending the Law on the Protection of Objects of Importance to Ensuring National Security (NSU Act), registered in the Teisės aktų registras (TAR) on 3 October 2024 and entering into force on 18 October 2024. The amendments expand the list of strategically important economic activities subject to FDI screening by the Commission for the Coordination of Protection of Objects of Importance to National Security to include the issuance of electronic money, electronic money tokens, asset-referenced tokens, and the provision of crypto-asset services (CASPs) as defined under EU MiCA Regulation 2023/1114, aligning Lithuania's screening perimeter with the EU crypto-assets regulatory framework. The law also refines core definitional concepts — "persons acting in concert," "controlling person," and "manager of critical information infrastructure" — to tighten beneficial-ownership and control analysis under the regime.

On 24 September 2024 the European Commission issued its first-ever final decision under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2022/2560), conditionally approving (Case FS.100011) the acquisition of PPF Telecom Group B.V. by Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC (e&, majority-owned by the Emirates Investment Authority, Abu Dhabi). The Commission found that e& received prohibited foreign subsidies — principally an unlimited state guarantee via the EIA and preferential financing instruments — that risked post-transaction competitive distortion within the EU's five-country PPF footprint (Czechia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia; 10+ million subscribers). Conditions imposed require e& to remove the unlimited state guarantee, prohibit financing PPF's EU operations from EIA or e& group treasury, and mandate notification of future EU acquisitions above the FSR thresholds. The non-confidential version of the decision was published 4 April 2025.

On 4 July 2024 the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (François-Philippe Champagne) issued a ministerial statement on Investment Canada Act net-benefit reviews of Canadian critical-minerals companies. Acquisitions of control of important Canadian mining companies engaged in significant critical-minerals operations, including large Canadian-headquartered firms, will be found of net benefit only "in the most exceptional of circumstances." The statement extends the October 2022 state-owned-enterprise policy to foreign capital generally for this class of target. It states no size threshold and no effective date beyond the announcement.

On 2 June 2024, Treasurer Jim Chalmers signed the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers (Disposal of Interests in Northern Minerals Limited) Orders 2024 (F2024N00475), directing five China-linked foreign investors to divest a combined 613,573,632 shares in Northern Minerals Limited (ASX: NTU) to non-associates by 2 September 2024 on national-security grounds. The five named investors are Yuxiao Fund Pte Ltd, Black Stone Resources Limited, Indian Ocean International Shipping and Service Company Limited, Ms Ximei Liu, and Mr Xi Wang, together holding approximately 10.4% of NTU's total shares. NTU owns the Browns Range Heavy Rare Earths Project in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia — one of the few commercial-scale dysprosium and terbium deposits outside China. This is the foundational FATA s.69(2) disposal-order instrument; non-compliance led to an AUD 14 million Federal Court penalty in January 2026 and a second tranche of disposal orders against six further China-linked investors in May 2026.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), enacted as Division H of P.L. 118-50 (21st Century Peace through Strength Act), prohibits app stores and internet hosting services from distributing, maintaining, or updating "foreign adversary controlled applications" — defined explicitly to include ByteDance Ltd and its subsidiaries (TikTok). ByteDance was given 270 days from enactment (until January 19, 2025) to execute a "qualified divestiture" — selling TikTok to an owner with no operational relationship with a foreign adversary — or face a nationwide distribution ban. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law's constitutionality in TikTok, Inc. v. Garland (January 17, 2025), rejecting First Amendment challenges and affirming the national-security rationale grounded in data-collection concerns.

Latvia's Saeima adopted on 27 March 2024 amendments to the National Security Law (Nacionālās drošības likums), entering into force on 24 April 2024, that widen the perimeter of foreign-investment and ownership transactions subject to Cabinet of Ministers pre-clearance over "companies of significance to national security." The amendments expand the universe of regulated subjects beyond registered companies to include foundations and associations, tighten the rules on beneficial-ownership disclosure, and bring additional sensitive activities — energy security including LNG-terminal acquisitions, electronic communications, cybersecurity, and critical-raw-materials processing — under the regime, while clarifying Cabinet authority to impose conditions or unwind transactions retroactively. The law functions as Latvia's horizontal FDI-screening instrument under the EU-wide cooperation framework of Regulation 2019/452.

Bill C-34, the National Security Review of Investments Modernization Act, received Royal Assent on 22 March 2024 — the first major overhaul of the Investment Canada Act (ICA) national-security review regime since 2009. Non-regulatory provisions came into force on 3 September 2024 by Order Fixing P.C. 2024-826 (SI/TR-32, Canada Gazette Part II). The Act creates a pre-implementation filing obligation for investments in prescribed "sensitive sectors" (final list set by regulation), gives the Minister of Innovation new authority to extend reviews and impose interim conditions or accept undertakings without a Governor-in-Council order, raises monetary penalties, and establishes information-sharing authorities with allied screening regimes. ISED's updated NSR Guidelines (5 March 2025) elevate "economic security" to a standalone factor and align the prescribed-sector list with the Sensitive Technology List (STL).

Bulgaria's National Assembly adopted on 22 February 2024 amendments to the Investment Promotion Act establishing the country's first horizontal foreign direct investment screening mechanism, published in State Gazette No. 20 on 8 March 2024 and entering into force on 12 March 2024. The regime implements EU Regulation 2019/452 by creating an Interdepartmental Screening Council with a 45-day decision window over non-EU investments meeting a 10 % equity stake or €2 million threshold in critical-infrastructure, dual-use, advanced-technology, media, and financial-infrastructure sectors, with no threshold for investments by Russian or Belarusian persons or in oil and petroleum activities. Non-compliance and false declarations carry fines of 5 % of investment value, with a minimum BGN 50,000.

The Significant Investments Review Act 2024 (Act No. 1 of 2024) is Singapore's first horizontal, cross-sector statutory FDI screening regime. The Bill was passed by Parliament on 9 January 2024, assented to by the President on 6 February 2024 and gazetted on 14 February 2024; the Act commenced on 28 March 2024 under the SIRA 2024 (Commencement) Notification (S 228/2024), together with the Significant Investments Review Regulations 2024 (S 229/2024). The Act creates an "ownership-and-control" layer over a limited number of "designated entities" the Minister for Trade and Industry has identified as critical to Singapore's national-security interests, plus an "any entity" call-in power exercisable against firms that have acted against Singapore's national-security interests, regardless of whether they are designated. Acquisitions of ≥5% require post-closing notification within 7 days; acquisitions of ≥12% / ≥25% / ≥50% and cessations of ≥50% / ≥75% controller status require prior ministerial approval. Administered by the Office of Significant Investments Review (OSIR) within MTI. SIRA is the Singaporean structural peer of US CFIUS, EU Regulation 2019/452, the German AWG §§55-62, the French Décret 2014-479, the UK NSI Act 2021, the Netherlands Wet Vifo, and the Canada ICA national-security review.