Foreign Direct Investments Screening Measures and Duty to Give Reasons

The recent reforms in the field of foreign direct investments screening measures address national securities and other public interests’ risks in various forms. However, they may also conceal different concerns, such as the fear of predatory acquisitions of relevant local businesses from foreign countries. As a consequence, the above-mentioned measures may be used to create commercial barriers in spite of the many international Treaties which guarantee freedom of trades. Therefore, attention must be devoted to analyze how national governments justify the use of powers which forbid investments from abroad and to understand if there are common reasons among different countries. In particular, the study will deepen recent cases of use of the so-called “golden power” in Italy, which were aimed to oppose possible phenomena of foreign governments driven acquisitions.