Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The Polish Sejm passed the Act of 9 July 2025 amending the Act of 24 July 2015 on the Control of Certain Investments, signed by the President on 21 July 2025 and effective 24 July 2025. The amendment removes the time-limited "Specialised Rules" tier (introduced in 2020 under the Anti-COVID Shield) and makes Poland's FDI screening regime permanent. Review competence is transferred from the President of UOKiK (the competition authority) to the minister responsible for economic affairs (currently the Minister of Finance and Economy), and a new trigger covering "an international situation distorting the market or competition" is added alongside the existing public-order, security and health grounds.

Thailand's Cabinet approved in principle on 22 April 2025 the urgent revision of the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 (1999), directing the Ministry of Commerce to overhaul the foundational 25-year-old statute governing foreign participation in Thai economic activities, explicitly shifting the guiding principle from "protection" of domestic entrepreneurs to "enhancing competitiveness." In January 2026, the Department of Business Development operationalised the reform by announcing a 10-sector List-3 delisting package — including telecommunications services not owning network infrastructure, software development, financial-services categories (treasury centres, derivatives agency, collateralised lending, credit guarantee), petroleum drilling services, management services for affiliated companies, and domestic agricultural commodity trading — that would allow wholly-foreign-owned subsidiaries without a Foreign Business Licence (FBL). Simultaneously, the revision introduces a shift from a legal-shareholding test to an actual-control / beneficial-ownership test in nominee-shareholder enforcement, tightening the anti-front-company architecture while liberalising legitimate foreign-investment routes. Full statutory enactment via parliamentary process is expected mid-to-late 2026.

On 5 October 2021, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, jointly with the Ministry of Finance, MEXT and MLIT, published amendments to the Regulatory Notices under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act (FEFTA) adding two new categories to the "Core Business Sectors" subject to mandatory prior-notification FDI screening: metal mining (including mineral exploration vessels and land/underwater survey activity) and manufacturing, repair/maintenance or software for equipment used in metal mining (exploration vessels, marine equipment, excavators, drilling machines). The stated purpose is to secure the stable supply of critical mineral resources including rare earths. The amendment took effect 4 November 2021 after a 30-day transitional period; any inward direct investment of 1% or more in a covered business now requires case-by-case government pre-approval.