‘Open policy’ on investment is best, say Swiss – but consult on controls

The Swiss Federal Council has said that it is laying out the parameters for possible investment controls while noting that it is of the opinion that ‘the cost-benefit ratio’ attendant on introducing controls is ‘unfavourable’ and that current rules are sufficient given the benefits to Switzerland of ‘an open policy towards investments from abroad.’

But it notes, ‘investment control is intended to avert possible dangers or threats to public order or security due to takeovers of domestic companies by foreign investors. In addition, it should also be possible to prevent significant distortions of competition in the event of takeovers by foreign state or state-affiliated investors,’ adding that such ‘dangers’ include:

• ‘Critical dependence of the Swiss Armed Forces on suppliers of load-bearing armament components’
• ‘Critical dependency of government agencies on suppliers of central security-relevant IT systems’
• ‘Critical dependence of international space infrastructures, in which Switzerland participates, on suppliers of load-bearing components for such infrastructures’, and
• ‘Access by a malicious actor to a large amount of particularly sensitive personal data.’

See: https://www.seco.admin.ch/seco/de/home/seco/nsb-news.msg-id-84838.html