Definitions
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply: (1) ‘foreign investment’ means an investment of any kind, carried out either by a foreign investor itself or through a foreign investor’s subsidiary in the Union, aiming to establish or to maintain lasting and direct links between the foreign investor and a Union target, to which the foreign investor makes capital available in order to carry out an economic activity in a Member State, enabling effective participation in the management or control of that Union target; (2) ‘greenfield investment’ means a foreign investment carried out through the establishment of new facilities or of an undertaking for the performance of an economic activity in the Union; (3) ‘internal restructuring’ means a reorganisation of a corporate group to which a Union target belongs, which does not result in a change of the beneficial owner of the Union target; (4) ‘request for authorisation’ means a submission under a screening mechanism of a request to authorise a foreign investment subject to a prior authorisation requirement; (5) ‘foreign investor’ means: (a) a natural person who does not hold the nationality of a Member State; or (b) an undertaking or entity established or otherwise organised under the laws of a third country; (6) ‘beneficial owner’ means: (a) one or more natural persons: (i) who, directly or indirectly, own or control a foreign investor or Union target; (ii) who ultimately benefit from the foreign investment; or (iii) on whose behalf the foreign investment is made or on whose behalf the control over that foreign investment is exercised; or (b) where no natural persons are identified, a legal person, entity or trust which: (i) directly or indirectly owns or controls a foreign investor or Union target; or (ii) ultimately benefits from the foreign investment; (7) ‘foreign investor’s subsidiary in the Union’ means an undertaking which is established under the laws of a Member State and directly or indirectly controlled by a foreign investor; (8) ‘opaque ownership structure’ means an arrangement in which the ownership or control of an entity is unclear, concealed or difficult to ascertain due to, inter alia, the use of complex legal structures, multiple layers of ownership, nominee shareholders, or other mechanisms that obscure the identity of the beneficial owner; (9) ‘Union target’ means an undertaking established or intended to be established under the laws of a Member State; (10) ‘filing’ means an initial submission to the screening authority of all information or documentation required under the screening mechanism, including, where applicable, a complete request for authorisation; (11) ‘host Member State’ means the Member State in which a foreign investment is planned to be or is completed; (12) ‘screening’ means a procedure through which a host Member State can investigate, assess, authorise, authorise subject to mitigating measures, prohibit or unwind foreign investments on the grounds of security or public order; (13) ‘screening mechanism’ means a legal instrument of general application and accompanying administrative requirements, implementing rules or guidelines, that set out the terms, conditions and procedures for screening; (14) ‘screening decision’ means a measure adopted by a screening authority pursuant to a screening mechanism which results in the authorisation, authorisation subject to mitigating measures, prohibition or unwinding of a foreign investment; (15) ‘screening authority’ or ‘screening authorities’ means the authority or authorities designated by a Member State to carry out screening; (16) ‘completion’ means the point in time at which the last condition precedent has been met in relation to an investment decision by the parties to a foreign investment transaction; (17) ‘notifying Member State’ means a Member State that has notified a foreign investment through the cooperation mechanism pursuant to Article 5; (18) ‘multi-country transaction’ means a foreign investment subject to screening mechanisms in two or more Member States; (19) ‘multi-country notification’ means a notification sent through the cooperation mechanism by each of the Member States concerned with regard to a multi-country transaction; (20) ‘mitigating measure’ means any condition imposed by a Member State in order to resolve the likely negative effect on security or public order arising from a foreign investment; (21) ‘contact point’ means the person or entity designated by a Member State to send and receive all communication through the cooperation mechanism, including notifications and exchanges of information related to foreign investments covered by this Regulation; (22) ‘stockpiling’ means storing a quantity of a particular raw material for future use, including in anticipation of possible shortages.