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Ross Evans

Ross Evans is a leading foreign investment controls lawyer, who focuses on helping clients navigate the shifting global landscape of foreign direct investment (FDI) and national security reviews and regulations, and other regimes providing for security and public interest related geopolitical interventions in corporate, commercial and financial transactions.

His practice covers foreign investment and international trade laws, encompassing FDI, national security and public interest review and approvals, inbound and outbound investment screening, and export control/sanctions matters, alongside related licensing and compliance and internal and regulator-facing investigations.

Ross regularly advises major multinational companies and a broad range of strategic and financial investors. With nearly a decade of global experience managing engagement with UK, EU and international authorities, and a deep understanding of the trade and investment issues connected to critical and strategic assets and technologies, Ross provides strategic and commercial guidance to clients, general counsel and C-suite decision makers, across industries including technology and telecommunications, infrastructure, life sciences, aerospace and defence, engineering, and financial services.

Ross frequently presents on legal developments and trends to industry bodies and trade groups in the United Kingdom and internationally. He has worked in Singapore and Stockholm, and has spent over a year on two separate secondments with a multinational technology company in London and California.

As an elected member of the National Security Committee of techUK, a technology industry trade association, Ross works alongside committee members drawn from the technology and security sector to break down the impact of new law and policy and to advance engagement and understanding between industry and government in the UK. In connection with his expertise in sensitive and emerging technologies, Ross provided industry focused input at the request of the UK Government on drafting secondary legislation and guidance in connection with the UK's National Security and Investment Act (NSIA).

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The UK Parliament has passed emergency legislation to enable the government to direct the use of assets of British Steel, and to take control of assets if directions are not followed.

The government’s stated intention is “continuing the support of steel production in the UK [which] involves preserving current production capacity to ensure resilience in the production of steel”. The new law creates new powers for the government to intervene in relation to steelmaking businesses whose assets are at risk of ceasing to be used. If the operation of a steelmaking blast furnace, such as those operated by British Steel, is stopped, restarting its operation can be prohibitively expensive and it may be permanently unusable.

Following negotiations with its current owners (the Chinese steelmaker Jingye Group) on the future of British Steel, the government announced on Friday its intention to recall Parliament the following day to introduce a draft bill and complete the full legislative process within a single day. The bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament and received royal asset on Saturday 12 April, coming into force on the same day, as the Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025 (the “Act”).

This is the first time that Parliament has responded to a perceived crisis in a UK industry by extending the government’s powers to intervene in specific industries for “public interest” reasons since 2008, in the context of the Global Financial Crisis. In that case, Parliament passed legislation to enable the government to nationalise the Northern Rock bank (and subsequently other banks), and later that year the government’s public interest intervention powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 were expanded in order to allow the government to override competition concerns in the Lloyds/HBOS merger. In contrast to previous measures that provide the government with powers to acquire businesses and to intervene in potential mergers and acquisitions between businesses, the new Act applies outside of the context of a transaction or takeover. Specifically, the new Act applies where specific assets may cease (or have ceased) to be used in a steel manufacturing business but the government considers that it is in the public interest that the use of the assets should continue.Continue Reading UK passes emergency legislation to authorize “public interest” directions on use of British Steel assets

In November 2024, the UK’s High Court (the “Court”) issued its judgment on the first appeal of a Final Order (“Order”) imposed by the UK government (acting through the Secretary of State) under the UK’s National Security and Investment Act 2021 (the “NSIA”).

Under UK public law, decisions such as the Order can only be challenged on a judicial review basis – i.e., on the process and not on the merits. The Court not only confirms this position, but also clearly indicates limits to the scope of UK courts’ powers to opine on the substance of national security risk and reveals a wide margin of discretion for the UK government.Continue Reading Five takeaways from the first court challenge to a UK NSIA Final Order

On 18 July 2024, the current President of the European Commission (“Commission”), Ursula von der Leyen, was reconfirmed by the European Parliament for a second 5-year term. As part of her reconfirmation, President von der Leyen delivered a speech before the European Parliament, complemented by a 30-page program, which lays down the Commission’s political program for the next five years.

A key pillar of the program – “A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness” – has the objective of combining competitiveness and prosperity with the achievement of the European Green Deal goals.

Specifically on competition policy, according to President von der Leyen, a new approach is needed to achieve this objective. This blog post projects where competition policy is likely headed in the 2024-2029 period by commenting on the most relevant paragraphs of the program.Continue Reading The 2024-2029 Commission Political Guidelines: Where Is Competition Policy Likely Headed?

The European Commission (the “Commission”) issued a White Paper on Outbound Investments (the “White Paper”) on 24 January 2024, setting out non-binding proposals for a detailed analysis of EU outbound investment. With its initiative, the Commission aims to understand whether the current limited regulation in the area of outbound investments is…

Continue Reading Outbound investment screening in the EU – A major step forward?

On 24 January 2024, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published its European Economic Security Package (the “EESP”), which included the long-awaited proposal to reform the EU Regulation which established a framework for Foreign Direct Investment screening (the “EU FDI Regulation”). The EESP’s proposed regulation (the “Proposed Regulation”)…

Continue Reading Draft EU Screening Regulation – a new chapter for screening foreign direct investments in the EU