Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The European Commission today adopted the rules for implementing the Foreign Support Regulation ("FSR"). The executive regulations detail the procedural aspects of implementing the financial services system. It also contains notification forms on concentrations involving foreign financial contributions and foreign financial contributions in public procurement procedures.
Executive Regulations
The Regulations adopted today take into account comments received during the one-month public consultation period that took place between February 6, 2023, and March 6, 2023. relating to the notifications.
The Foreign Subsidies Regulation specifies the obligation for companies to notify:
concentrations where the acquiree, one of the merging parties, or the joint venture is incorporated in the Union and generates EU turnover of at least €500 million and where the parties to the transaction have made combined foreign financial contributions of at least €50 million over the past three years;
Foreign financial contributions to public procurement procedures, where the estimated contract value is at least €250 million and the bid includes a total foreign financial contribution of at least €4 million per third country over the past three years.
The implementing regulations, in particular the notification forms, detail the reporting obligations of the notifying parties, specifying the information that must be included in the notification forms for concentrations and public procurement procedures. particularly:
For concentrations, companies are required to report:
For foreign financial contributions that financial services regulations consider most likely to distort the internal market (such as those granted to distressed enterprises, those that directly facilitate concentration or unlimited guarantees, also known as “Article 5 financial contributions”), detailed information on all contributions finances in an individual amount of at least 1 million euros, granted to the parties to the transaction over the past three years;
For all other foreign financial contributions, an overview of the financial contributions made to the notifying party/parties over the past 3 years, in an individual amount of at least €1 million and in respect of only those countries that have granted parties to a transaction an amount of at least €45 million over 3 years Pre-emphasis, subject to a number of exceptions.
For foreign financial contributions to public procurement procedures, companies are required to report:
For foreign financial contributions, detailed information on all financial contributions falling under Article 5 of at least €1 million made individually to the notifying party/parties in the three years preceding notification;
For all other foreign financial contributions, an overview of financial contributions made to the notifying party/parties in an individual amount of at least 1 million euros and in respect of only those countries that have been granted to each of the notifying party/parties at least 4 million euros per country over the 3 years prior to notification .
  The executive regulations provide detailed rules on:
Procedures for notifications of the Committee on Concentrations and Participation in Public Procurement involving foreign financial contributions. This includes notification forms for each action, the person authorized to file a notification and the actual date of the notification;
the Commission's investigation process, including the procedures companies must follow to make commitments to address potential concerns of the Commission;
the procedural rights of the parties regarding protection of confidential information, access to files, and submission of feedback;
Calculating and suspending deadlines for providing information and making commitments;
Transfer and sign documents by notifying the parties to UNHCR through digital means, when applicable.
The Financial Services Regulation will come into effect from July 12, 2023. From October 12, 2023, companies will have to notify concentrations, participate in public procurement procedures involving foreign financial contributions, and meet relevant notification limits.
The Financial Stability Act allows the Commission to investigate financial contributions made by non-EU countries to companies operating in the EU and to remedy their distorting effects, if necessary. It authorizes the Commission to adopt procedural rules with regard to the enforcement of the FSS.
The FSR was proposed by the Commission in May 2021 and approved by the European Parliament and the Council in record time, in June 2022. It entered into force on 12 July 2023