What have Germany, the UK, Italy, Austria, Spain, the USA, Canada, China, Australia, Japan or South Korea have in common? You all know the possibility of foreign investment in your company of a check. Switzerland will now follow suit. (Read here, why the decision correctly, but no free pass for the authorities.) The national Council followed with 96 against, with 82 votes in the Council of States, and referred a Motion, which obliges the Federal Council to a template to prepare. The preparatory Committee had spoken in favour or against.
support was given to the Motion of the SP, the Greens and the middle group. In contrast, liberal, FDP, and the majority of the SVP were green. Crucial three votes for the Motion and seven abstentions from the SVP were. Without these deviants from the official party line of the proposal would have been rejected. Also against the bill, Federal councillor Guy Parmelin fought. The Federal Council acknowledges that there is a Problem, but today’s legislation to let an Intervention already, and that is why additional authority to bring any benefits.
“It can’t be that Know from Switzerland is abgezügelt and implemented by others.”Leo Müller, CVP-Nationalrat (Luzern)
Quite different saw the CVP national councillor Leo Müller. In the Motion to “state-led, state-motivated Acquisitions,” he said, “and they should specifically be able to be controlled”. Other countries have made very much money. It could be that Switzerland is investing state resources in research and Innovation, and that this Knowledge is later “abgezügelt and implemented by others”. Switzerland is particularly at risk, and found Müller. China, for example, together have invested in the year 2016, $ 45 billion in Switzerland, 5 billion more than in the whole of the Rest of Europe.
13 States investment controls
the EU is Also concerned urge about China’s Expansion. She set a year ago, acquisition controls in force. They are a Supplement to the rules, more than half of the States already for years, and have been exacerbated in many cases recently.
in France to 2018 extended its takeover rules to other sectors, such as the robot industry. The end of 2018, Germany increased its investment controls on critical infrastructures and the media. The United Kingdom also increased its control recently.
According to the UN conference on trade and development were introduced from 2011 to 2019, in 13 States, investment controls and in 15 countries, the existing rules, some of them repeatedly tightened. The threshold at which a transaction is being investigated, is different.
In France, for example, examining a transaction from a stake of 33 per cent, and in Australia is exposed to China Expo, starting at 5 percent. There, the control is repeated in the case of a contribution of 10, 20 and 40 percent.
In the case of the legal restrictions, there are two Trends: In most cases, the scope of national security has been extended to interests in infrastructure and key technologies, or the reporting obligations of the foreign Investors have been tightened.
Parmelin warned in vain
This has consequences: The United Nations conference on trade and development was one of the world between 2016 and September 2019 and twenty cases, in which States investment in fact have prevented. These were almost exclusively to investors from China. Most of the cases blocked the USA. But also the Netherlands, new Zealand, Australia and Canada have denied to Chinese investors access to. The value of these transactions amounted to a total of 162,5 billion dollars.
most studies were conducted in 2018 in Canada (751), followed by Australia (633) and the USA (229). Since 2015, the number of investigations has increased rapidly worldwide. In Italy, for example, by 255 per cent, in the United States by 160 per cent.
Federal councillor Guy Parmelin, warned in vain that the government must raise a large apparatus, which will lead to an administrative burden for the company. The proponents countered that it was up to the Federal Council, a lean, but effective control of investments to develop. It’s not going to be a ban on investment. “But it is important to prevent state-motivated investments, with the goal of Knowledge from the Switzerland away,” said Leo Muller.
When it comes to him, you would have to quickly get to work. “The Federal Council has recognized the Problem yourself,” he says. “He now needs to make rapid progress, and the template as soon as possible.”
Created: 03.03.2020, 21:18 PM
