Clifford Chance
Coronavirus: New barriers to Foreign Direct Investment in Spain (updated in accordance with Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of 31 March)
1 April 2020
Spanish Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of 17 March, on urgent extraordinary measures to address the economic and social impact of COVID-19 (the "RDL 8/2020"), amended by Royal Decree-Law 11/2020, of 31 March, has suspended, effective as of 18 March 2020, the regime on the deregulation of foreign direct investment in Spain, indefinitely, until the Spanish Government decides otherwise. To that end, it has added a new Article 7 bis and has established new rules on sanctions in Articles 8 and 12 of Act 19/2003, of 4 July, on the legal regime governing the movement of capital and financial transactions with foreign countries. The RDL is based in this regard on Regulation EU 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union ("Regulation 2019/452"), some of the provisions of which it reproduces almost literally.
