Government narrows definitions of sectors covered by new national security regime

 

Government narrows definitions of sectors covered by new national security regime

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has published the government's response to its consultation on mandatory notification in specific sectors under the National Security and Investment Bill.

The Bill will establish a new statutory regime for government intervention in investments for the purposes of protecting national security.

17 specified sectors were identified as within the scope of the Bill for these purposes including the energy, communications, artificial intelligence, defence, cryptographic authentication, computing hardware, and military and dual use sectors.  This breadth of coverage was widely criticised.

The government has refined the list of sectors following consultation and states that it continues to further refine the definitions in some sectors, including the energy and communications sectors.

The final definitions will be set out in regulations following Royal Assent.