European Union: How to prepare for mandatory notifications under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regime

Brussels: The new EU foreign subsidies regime will impact all multinational companies regardless of their country of origin. As of October 12, companies engaging in large transactions and bidding for large public procurement contracts in the EU are obliged to seek prior clearance from the European Commission. Implementing rules provide some welcome reporting relief, but the notification process requires that companies put in place mechanisms to track in real time a wide range of foreign financial contributions granted directly or indirectly from non-EU state funding.

Being prepared will avoid negatively impacting your ability to bid for large tenders or having a transaction held up because the review deadlines do not start running unless the foreign subsidies’ notification is complete. Upfront preparation will also allow you to engage early in prenotification contacts with the Commission to obtain waivers where appropriate to further reduce the notification reporting burden.

This Starter Kit provides a high-level summary of the new regime and some tips on how to approach setting up a system that will allow you to gather the information you will be required to report on should you trigger a notification. If you are interested in learning more, including having access to our FSR Reporting Tool and related Q&A, please reach out to your usual Baker McKenzie contact or one of our FSR experts.