On 14 July the European Commission published its report into the review of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (‘the Review’’ / ‘FSR’).

According to the Review the first three years of FSR enforcement has worked well in practice and the regime is an effective tool to tackle distortions from foreign subsidies in the EU’s single market.

The Review also highlighted some areas of concern including the:

·        Burden in collecting and reporting data on foreign financial contributions (FFCs);

·        Length and complexity of certain procedures linked to the investigations;

·        Uncertainty around the Commission's call-in powers for below-threshold concentrations; and

·        Need for more clarity regarding certain reporting obligations and greater transparency in enforcement practice?

In the coming weeks the Commission will publish some draft targeted amendments to the FSR's procedural framework that may include under the merger pillar:

·        Tightening several reporting thresholds;

·        Introducing a simplified notification possibility for specific cases or FFCs; 

·        Moderately increasing the reporting thresholds for FFCs; and

·        Introducing new exemptions for reportable FFCs.

Under the public procurement pillar:

·        Simplifying and clarifying the notification and declaration forms;

·        Revising the waiver framework; 

·        Clarifying and limiting the reporting of “non-distortive” FFCs; and

·        Clarifying the rights and obligations of bidders and contracting authorities.