On May 25, 2012, the Canadian government announced proposed
amendments to the foreign investment review process.
The proposed amendments are stated to be intended to:
- provide the Minister and a foreign investor with an alternative
to litigation where the Minister believes that a foreign investor
has failed to comply with a written undertaking, and
- narrow the scope of transactions subject to the net benefit
review process under the Investment Canada Act (the
"ICA") to those that are the "most
significant".
These proposals follow the announcement in late April of
proposed amendments to the ICA relating to enhanced transparency of
the review process under the ICA and improved enforcement tools for
contraventions of the ICA (for more information about those
proposed amendments, please see the Goodmans Update dated May 8,
2012 titled "
Canada Proposes Amendments to the Investment Canada Act
for Greater Disclosure and Enhanced Enforcement" at
www.goodmans. ca).
