The Screening of Third Country Transactions Bill (the
"Screening Bill"), as it has been
renamed, remains as priority legislation in Ireland's Summer
2022 Legislation Programme. It is expected to be published in the
coming months and could potentially to be enacted by the end of
this year.
The Screening Bill, once commenced, will establish a new Irish
regime for assessing investments from non-EU countries where those
investments could pose a risk to security or public order, and will
expand on EU law principles and information-sharing under
Regulation 2019/452.
The Screening Bill has been in development for some time. In
January 2021, we published an articlenotingMatheson's
response to the public consultation on investment screening. The
key questions for dealmakers remain unanswered: Will the new regime
impose notification and suspension obligations? Will it apply to
deals which are signed (but not completed) before the regime
commences? What will be the
