Satisfied with the bill's changes

Iceland's parliament has passed a bill that reviews foreign investments to safeguard national security and public order. Hildur Sverrisdóttir, a member of the Independence Party and the economic and trade committee, expressed satisfaction with the bill's outcome after its second reading.

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From the first day, everyone agreed on the purpose of the bill, to ensure that foreign investment does not threaten national security, but the bill was also to ensure that we do not go too far against the competitiveness of companies and to promote foreign investment and so on.

Sverrisdóttir stated that the bill's core purpose, to prevent foreign investment from threatening national security while ensuring it doesn't unduly harm business competitiveness, has been consistent from the outset. However, she noted that the initial draft from the ministry was overly stringent, and amendments were necessary to mitigate its impact on businesses and the country's economy.

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The amendments were damage-limiting, but the bill is still quite heavy.

Key changes include the complete removal of loan and financing agreements from the review process. Sverrisdóttir believes this amendment is crucial, as its absence would likely have increased interest rates for households and businesses. The parliament also extended the validity period for agreements falling outside the review scope, further easing the burden on both companies and the ministry's administration.

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The most important change in her opinion is that loan and financing agreements are completely removed from the bill.

Despite the overall satisfaction, not all proposals from the Independence Party were adopted. A suggestion to limit the review to agreements posing a risk of control or threat to public order, rather than specifying various contract types with time limits, was rejected. Nevertheless, Sverrisdóttir highlighted the productive cross-party collaboration within the committee, emphasizing the positive working relationship that facilitated the amendments.

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So it will greatly ease things both for the companies and also in the administration in the ministry and elsewhere. I am very pleased that this damage limitation has been accepted.