Country Report on Hungary and Romania
Forthcoming, Hindelang and Moberg (eds), A Common European Law on Investment Screening (Springer, 2020)
22 Pages Posted: 26 Feb 2020
Date Written: September 15, 2019
Abstract
Romania does not yet have a separate law regulating the screening of foreign investments. Therefore, it is difficult to argue that the 2011 amendment to Romania’s Competition Law, which allows the blocking of a takeover for national security reasons, can be considered an investment screening mechanism under EU Regulation 2019/452. If it can be considered as such, then the summary procedures described in the Competition Law fall short of the requirements of the EU Regulation. Compared to Romania, Hungary has very recently adopted Law LVII of 2018 and Government Decree 246/2018, which set up a detailed investment screening mechanism for national security reasons, in sensitive economic sectors. The Hungarian mechanism is mostly in line with the Regulation’s mandatory minimum requirements. They only fall short when it comes to better detailing some of the grounds based on which non-EU, non-EEA, or non-Swiss foreign investors can have their investments blocked, and they do not include provisions on the protection of sensitive information. It is to be seen how effective the Hungarian mechanism becomes, as a number of foreign investors will be affected by it.
Keywords: Investment Screening, Hungary, Romania, Regulation 2019/452
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation