Tighter investment screenings as a reaction to the Corona crisis
At the beginning of April, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) published a draft bill to amend the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (AWG), which makes it clear that investments in Germany by foreigners from outside the EU will be subject to significantly higher hurdles in the future (for details, see GSK Update “Germany amends Foreign Trade Law – On the road to protectionism?” of 28 April 2020, available under link). Following the amendment of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (AWG), the BMWi has now – accelerated by the Corona pandemic – submitted a draft amendment to the Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance (AWV). According to this draft, companies in the healthcare sector are to be extensively protected from foreign investors. In addition, the AWV amendment, for the first time, contains a more concrete definition of the question in which case an acquisition represents a threat and should, therefore, be prohibited. In our GSK Update we have summarized the most important facts and changes of the AWV amendment.