Sensitive Sectors

The Government determines what is 'contrary to the national interest' by having regard to community concerns. Reflecting community concerns, specific restrictions on foreign investment are in force in more sensitive sectors such as residential real estate (refer to the Urban Land Policy Guidelines), banking, telecommunications, shipping, civil aviation, airports and the media. Generally these categories include sectors where other Government agencies or relevant interested parties would be involved in the screening process or have major carriage.

An application for approval in a sensitive sector is made the same way any other share/asset acquisition application is made. However different thresholds may apply, depending on the nature of the investment. There are legislatively prescribed sensitive sectors in relation to investments by US investors which are subject to a $231 million (indexed annually) notification threshold. This threshold applies in place of the general notification threshold applicable to US investors of $1004 million. For full details, refer to the relevant category.

How to Apply

For information on how to apply for approval, please see the How To Apply section. In addition, please refer to the Notices section of the website for guidelines on when and which notice is applicable.