Our team advises on, prepares and submits (informal) filings with the relevant authorities in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Each regime has its peculiarities, but all three contain mandatory filings in case of transactions in the defence industry. While the Belgian and Luxembourg regimes only apply in the event of a foreign acquirer, the Dutch regime is a so-called non-discriminatory regime which applies irrespective of the nationality of the acquirer.
In the Netherlands, the focus on the defence industry will further increase with the introduction of a sector-specific FDI screening for defence(-related) industries. A first draft of the “Resilience Act for defence and security-related industry” has been published and is expected to be introduced soon. The exact timing, however, is yet to be determined. The new FDI regime will shift the total defence sector, towards a more integrated approach and will likely increase the number of transactions requiring a mandatory notification and approval from the Investment Screening Bureau before completion.
