The FSR General Tool

On 12 July 2023 the general or ex officio tool of the FSR became applicable. The tool empowers the European Commission (EC) to investigate cases where foreign subsidies are suspected of having a distortive effect on the EU's internal market, even if they do not fall within the scope of the other two FSR tools (M&A tool and public procurement tool). This gives the EC a powerful instrument to tackle market distortions from subsidies granted by third countries.

A powerful catch-all instrument

Unlike the two notification-based tools designed to investigate concentrations and public procurements (see here and here), the general tool allows the EC to investigate all other market situations.