Screening of foreign investments and special financial agreements

Investment screening in Denmark uses a phased approach to ensure that uncritical cases are quickly resolved.

Phase 1

In phase 1, the applicant must submit an application form and an ownership structure form before and after the agreement or investment is completed.

If the parties to the consultation do not indicate concerns regarding aforementioned aspects of the investment or agreement and the Danish Business Authority (DBA) has not identified any security risks in the case, the DBA will decide the case and issue an authorization or approval no later than 45 calendar days in phase 1. If the sector authority assesses that the case does not fall within the authorization requirements of the Investment Screening Act, the application is canceled in line with current practice.

Phase 2

Phase 2 is a supplementary phase that will only be initiated in special cases where the DBA assesses that there will be a need to conduct further investigations to uncover whether the transaction could potentially pose a threat to national security or public order. If phase 2 is opened, the DBA will notify the applicant, and the applicant will receive a number of clarifying questions and be asked to submit additional documents in the form of agreement documents and EU notification form if it is a foreign direct investment to be notified under the EU’s cooperation mechanism. The DBA will make a decision in the case, no later than 125 calendar days in phase 2.

If an application or notification is submitted to the Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs, the Minister will commence negotiations with the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Justice the Minister for Defence and other relevant ministers. On the basis of such negotiations, the Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs will make the final decision. The Investment Screening Act does not set a deadline for this part of the process.

Investments and agreements covered by the authorisation scheme cannot legally be carried out without having applied for a permit. In such an instance, the Danish Business Authority can intervene and issue an order to stop the investment or the agreement.

Notification of an investment or agreement under the notification scheme is voluntary. If the Danish Business Authority suspects that an investment or agreement covered by the notification scheme has not been notified – and that it could pose a threat to national security or public order – it may decide to initiate an investigation up to 5 years after completion of the investment or agreement.

As a foreign investor, a Danish newly-established company or as a Danish company that is the subject of an intended investment or agreement, you can obtain an assessment of whether a specific investment or agreement does not relate to critical technology or critical infrastructure. Furthermore prescreening can be requested to asses whether investments or special financial agreements relating to a newly-established company is covered by the exemption in section 5 of the Executive Order on the scope of Application regarding investments or agreements not exceeding DKK 75 mio. in total the first three financial years.

Finally, the Danish Business Authority can also provide guidance on how to obtain clarification of how the company is otherwise covered by the other sensitive sectors and activities.

The Danish Business Authority will only be able to confirm that a specific investment or agreement based on the available information does not relate to critical technology or critical infrastructure. The statement will thus be subject to the condition that the investment or agreement may relate to some of the other particularly sensitive sectors (defence, IT security or dual-use).

A pre-assessment will also be subject to the fact that the investment or agreement may be covered by the rules regulating notification that applies outside the particularly sensitive areas.

In order to receive a prescreening assessment, the foreign investor, the Danish newly-established company or the Danish company subject to an intended investment must provide a few basic details about the foreign investor, the intended target company and when the investment or agreement is intended to be completed. The Danish Business Authority also requests an in-depth description of why the company in question wishes to request a prescreening of the proposed investment or the special financial agreement, a description of the Danish target company's business areas and considerations in relation to whether the company can be categorised as critical infrastructure or produces or develops technologies that relate to critical technology in accordance with section 10 of the Executive Order on Applications. If the prescreening concerns confirmation that the company is covered by the exemption provisions for newly-established companies, the Danish Business Authority will ask for details of the capital injection and a financing plan.

Submit prescreening requests

If you want to request prescreening, download and fill out the form and submit at the top of the page.

Disclaimer: The English translations are not binding and for convenience only. In case of any legal dispute, the Danish version is authoritative.

Danish version (authoritative)

Investeringsscreeningsloven

Bekendtgørelse om afgrænsning af anvendelsesområdet for lov om screening af visse udenlandske direkte investeringer m.v. i Danmark

Bekendtgørelse om procedurer m.v. ved ansøgning om tilladelse til eller anmeldelse af visse udenlandske direkte investeringer eller særlige økonomiske aftaler

Bekendtgørelse om videregivelse af fortrolige oplysninger om visse udenlandske direkte investeringer