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James Marshall

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James Marshall advises on all aspects of competition law and sector regulation and regularly counsels clients on merger control, investigations and enforcement, commercial deals, abuse of dominance, sector regulation, and compliance. Earlier in his career, Mr. Marshall worked with the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), where he helped develop the UK’s antitrust and regulated sector enforcement regimes. Clients turn to Mr. Marshall to help them find innovative solutions to complex antitrust enforcement, merger and counselling matters, particularly in regulated sectors.

Mr. Marshall represents clients before UK, EU, and global regulators across a number of industries and has particular expertise in the infrastructure, energy, transport and utilities sectors. He has also advised on numerous complex global financial services cases, and has strong experience advising in the consumer, digital, communications, and sports sectors.

Mr. Marshall practiced for several years in the Asia-Pacific region. He has experience advising on competition, regulatory, and public policy issues in Asia and the Middle East.

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Over the summer, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) delivered the first decisions, in the form of final orders, under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (“NSIA”).  We consider these decisions and other cases in the context of the first nine months of the UK’s new (quasi) Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”) regime.

Key takeaways:

  • The NSIA has broad reach, and BEIS has shown willingness to exercise the powers to review transactions that can stretch beyond mergers and acquisitions, for example, to licensing agreements.
  • NSIA review involves the weighing of a number of factors relating to the target, the acquirer and the level of control being obtained.  Early decisions suggest that target’s products/services and activities are just as important a factor as the acquirer’s identity, among the cases that have engaged the attention of the Investment Security Unit (“ISU”).
  • “Behavioural” undertakings, e.g. involving implementation of security controls or granting of audit rights to regulators appear to be a continuation of trends seen in the predecessor UK ‘public interest’ regime, and similar to other EU FDI procedures.

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Continue Reading UK FDI: Decision-making practice emerging under the National Security and Investment Act

The UK government has reported a successful start to the implementation of the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSIA” or “Act”). During the first three months (Jan-March 2022) in which the new NSIA regime has been active, the Investment Screening Unit (“ISU”) received 222 filings and reviewed 17 transactions in depth. Of those 17 transactions, three have been cleared unconditionally, with the other 14 transactions still under review at the end of the reporting period.

Mandatory NSIA filings, which represented 196 of the total flings, were most commonly made in six sectors: defence, military and dual-use, critical suppliers to government, artificial intelligence, data infrastructure and advanced materials.  There were significantly fewer filings in other sectors, with fewer than five filings per sector in areas such as synthetic biology, civil nuclear, advanced robotics and transport.

Collectively, these figures and other data suggest that the NSIA regime is operating, so far, broadly in line with expectations. While there are fewer filings than expected overall, this may reflect a broader global slowdown in M&A and investment activity. The ISU further reports that it is meeting, and often working well within, the maximum statutory time periods for the assessment of filings. The ISU indicates its willingness to complete reviews expeditiously where possible, including for in-depth assessments.…

Continue Reading UK National Security and Investment Regime Working Well

On 28 April 2022, the Subsidy Control Bill (the “Bill”) received Royal Assent, becoming the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (the “Act”).  The Act lays the basic framework for the new UK-wide subsidy control regime, which is now expected to come into force in Autumn 2022.  Although the Act primarily addresses UK public authorities and their legal obligations relating to the awarding of domestic subsidies, the new regime will be of particular interest to companies wishing to benefit from the more flexible post-Brexit subsidy regime moving forward.
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Continue Reading UK Subsidy Control Bill granted Royal Assent

When the UK left the EU on 31 December 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) gained new powers, functions and responsibilities previously exclusively reserved to the European Commission (the “Commission”).

This blog explores how the CMA has tackled its increased workload in the first year post-Brexit, under the shadow of the global pandemic, and the extent to which the CMA’s practice has diverged from EU law.…

Continue Reading Trends, developments and divergence from EU law? The CMA’s first year as a global competition authority

The UK’s new National Security and Investment Act (“NSIA”) entered into force on January 4, 2022. The NSIA marks a considerable change in the UK’s investment screening powers and adds to an increasingly complex European and global landscape of investment regulation (or FDI) filings necessary for the execution of M&A and other transactions.
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Continue Reading UK National Security & Investment Act is now in force

The UK’s NSI Act comes into force on January 4th, 2022. In these brief audio recordings, our team sets out what companies in the energy, life sciences and technology sectors need to know about the UK’s newly expanded investment control regime. For further details contact any member of our London team.

In this episode, our…

The UK’s NSI Act comes into force on January 4th, 2022. In these brief audio recordings, our team sets out what companies in the energy, life sciences and technology sectors need to know about the UK’s newly expanded investment control regime. For further details contact any member of our London team.

In this episode, our…

On 3 November, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) issued a recommendation to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to replace the EU Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation or ” VABER” with a UK Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Order (“UK Order”) when the VABER expires on 31 May 2022.  The VABER (which provides a safe harbour from the prohibition against anti-competitive agreements for vertical agreements that meet the applicable requirements) formed part of retained EU law following Brexit, but its upcoming expiry triggers the need for a UK Order to be issued in its place.
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Continue Reading The UK CMA publishes its recommendation for replacing the retained Vertical Agreements Block Exemption Regulation

The UK’s NSI Act comes into force on January 4th, 2022. In these brief audio recordings, our team sets out what companies in the energy, life sciences and technology sectors need to know about the UK’s newly expanded investment control regime. For further details contact any member of our London team.

In this episode, our…

On 20 July 2021, the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (“DCMS”) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) published proposals for a new regulatory regime for digital markets alongside accompanying consultation documents (the “Consultation”).  The Consultation seeks views from interested parties and closes on 1 October 2021.
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Continue Reading New UK Digital Competition Regulation Regime Consultation Closes on 1 October 2021