CFIUS exempts UK and New Zealand from foreign investment reviews

The United States has said it is exempting Britain and New Zealand from its annual foreign investment screening reviews because it has determined that both countries had robust screening programmes in place.

US Treasury’s powerful Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (‘CFIUS’) said in a 10 February statement that it made the decision based on the countries’ use of their own ‘robust foreign investment screening programs.’

The Treasury statement added that, with the new exemptions, all of the United States’ ‘Five Eyes’ national security and intelligence partners – Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – are now exempt from CFIUS jurisdiction over some transactions including real estate.

https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2023-02533.pdf

For more on non-US investment screening and clearance regimes, see the new WorldECR publication: Foreign Direct Investment Controls – A Global Perspective – available at www.worldecr.com/books/