National Security and Investment Act 2021: overview

by Practical Law Corporate and Practical Law Competition

A practice note providing an overview of the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSI Act), which established a stand-alone statutory regime in the UK for government scrutiny of acquisitions and investments to protect national security (NSI Regime). The note summarises the key features of the NSI Regime, which replaced the national security aspects of the Enterprise Act 2002, including the mandatory notification requirement for proposed acquisitions of control in qualifying entities active in specified sensitive economic sectors, where failure to obtain clearance renders a transaction legally void and may result in significant civil or criminal sanctions. The note also covers the voluntary notification system for other transactions that may raise national security concerns, and the government's broad power to "call in" trigger events for a full national security assessment. It explores the assessment process, the scope of remedies and the interaction between the NSI Regime and the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) merger control powers.