UK Merger Control: Greater Scope For Government Intervention (Part II)

Further to the UK Government's recent addition of a new public interest criterion under the UK merger control regime ( considered in our previous update), further revisions to the regime have now been enacted.

The revisions lower the jurisdictional thresholds applicable to certain transactions affecting the following sectors of the UK economy:

• artificial intelligence (AI);
• cryptographic authentication technology; and
• advanced materials.

Consequently, the revisions increase the ability of the UK Government to intervene in specific transactions and investments (including in the context of foreign direct investment (FDI)).

The revisions are intended to mitigate short-term risks (including in relation to )¹ pending the introduction of a UK-specific regime. In this context, in December 2019, the UK Government announced the National Security and Investment Bill (NS&I Bill), which is expected to be brought before the UK Parliament later this year. The NS&I