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1. What is the applicable legislation?

The primary piece of legislation governing the UK’s national security regime is the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA 2021). The NSIA 2021 came into force on 4 January 2022. Coupled with a range of secondary regulations, it grants the UK Government the power to scrutinise, intervene and impose remedies in relation to certain acquisitions on national security grounds.

The NSIA 2021 replaced the more limited powers relating to national security reviews under the Enterprise Act 2002 (EA 2002). These previously provided the Secretary of State (SoS) with the ability to scrutinise mergers giving rise to a national security consideration within the merger control framework. However, the EA 2002 will continue to govern the UK Government’s ability to review mergers on other specified public interest grounds. These