Under the National Security and Investment Act, which came into force earlier this year, the Government has two powers that particularly affect the research sector:
- The first is the power to intervene in ‘acquisition of entities’ – usually purchases of shares in companies, but also including where a certain level of ‘control’ is gained over ‘unincorporated associations’. Good luck unpicking that.
- The second is the power to intervene in ‘acquisition of assets’ which includes assignment or licensing of intellectual property.
Intervention means, among other things, blocking the transaction, imposing conditions on the transaction, unwinding a transaction, or demanding information. Any intervention has to be on the grounds of national security concerns – but the government doesn’t need to tell you what those concerns are, just that they exist.
