French FDI regime: one step towards a new (extensive) reform?
Amidst increasing geopolitical tensions, the French National Assembly has taken the initiative to evaluate the French FDI regime and, on 22 May 2025, published a report setting out a number of recommendations and detailing a roadmap for the adoption of a reformed regime.
Proposals from the Public Policy Evaluation and Monitoring Committee
The report contains 22 proposals; we detail the key ones you should be aware of below.
1. Expansion of the regime’s scope
The current French FDI regime captures transactions resulting in the acquisition of control, the acquisition of all or part of a business branch, and the crossing of certain thresholds (25% of voting rights, reduced to 10% in listed companies) in 24 sensitive sectors. The report suggests extending the regime to the following types of transactions:
- Investments conferring “decisive influence” reflecting the operational reality of control without triggering a formal control threshold;
- Greenfield investments; and
- Investments in data centres, real estate, artificial intelligence, banking, cultural assets, and social media platforms.
2. Introduction of a filing fee
Taking inspiration from other jurisdictions, the committee recommends introducing the payment of a filing fee proportional to the value of the transaction.
3. Introducing more granularity in the control mechanism
Again, drawing inspiration from other jurisdictions, particularly Germany and the United Kingdom, the report suggests putting in place an adjustable and progressive control mechanism, with criteria varying by asset sensitivity, with stricter levels of control for the most sensitive sectors. This “sliding scale” mechanism would notably include a lowered threshold in ultra-strategic sectors (i.e. arms manufacturing, cryptology activities and infrastructure essential to national defence).
4. Enhancement of transparency
While France publishes statistical data on FDI decisions, the absence of clear, detailed reports (such as anonymised case studies) creates challenges for investors seeking to align with the regulatory framework. To address this gap, the report notably proposes:
- Publishing anonymised versions of decisions to clarify how national interest concepts are applied;
- Regularly updating guidelines from the French Treasury;
- Adding more precise details of the conditions that may be attached to authorisation in the French Monetary and Financial Code and publishing, in the French Treasury's annual report on FDI, the nature and frequency of the main conditions imposed on investors; and
- Strengthening parliamentary oversight by creating a dedicated parliamentary committee for oversight of sensitive transactions.
Key takeaways and next steps
By way of background, as reported in an earlier blog post, the existing EU screening mechanism is currently being revised, notably to extend its scope of control to new sectors (i.e. media, critical raw materials and transport) and to harmonise the foreign investment screening regimes across the Member States.
This initiative of the French National Assembly signals the same effort to strengthen the FDI screening regime and parliamentary oversight in France. The conclusion of this report will be shared with the French Government, which is required to respond within three months (i.e. by the end of August). Following this, a debate is expected to be scheduled before Parliament to assess the opportunity to introduce new legislation to implement these recommendations. We will continue to report on developments in relation to the French FDI regime via this blog!
