Navigating The FSR: What A Difference A Year Makes!

Almost a year has passed since the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) became applicable on 12 July 2023. The notification obligations kicked in 3 months later. The FSR introduced:

• Extensive powers for the European Commission (EC) to launch ex officio investigations into potentially distortive foreign subsidies received by a company;
• A mandatory notification obligation for M&A transactions where the target (or JV, or one of the merging parties) has at least €500 million in EU turnover and the undertakings concerned have received at least €50 million in foreign financial contributions (FFCs) in the 3 years prior to the conclusion of the relevant agreement; and
• A mandatory notification obligation for public tenders meeting prescribed value thresholds and where the bidding party received at least €4 million in FFCs per third country in the three years prior to the notification.