UK annual security report clears most investment notifications

The UK government has published its National Security and Investment Act Annual Report, showing that most notifications were cleared and announcing planned refinements to mandatory investment screening rules.

• The report says 1,324 notifications were received, 1,220 reviewed, and 95.6% were cleared to proceed with no further action; the government also issued 60 call-in notices and made nine final orders between April 2025 and March 2026.
• The government says it will refine the rules after a 12-week consultation, including removing “off-the-shelf” AI from mandatory screening, bringing major water-operating companies into scope, and creating dedicated categories for semiconductors and critical minerals; only one acquisition was fully blocked.