Spring 2023, May, Volume 1

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) entered into force on January 12, 2023 and will start to apply from July 12, 2023. As João Azevedo describes, the stated aim of the FSR is to protect the EU’s internal market from foreign subsidies which allegedly distort competition and thereby create a level playing field. The FSR grants the European Commission (“EC”) extensive powers to intervene against such potential distortions in relation to any economic activity, and a new notification regime for certain M&A transactions and public tenders, which is independent from current EU/national merger control and foreign direct investment (”FDI”) notification requirements.