OBS_VALUE:  The “net benefit” review process requires a non-Canadian investor to apply for government approval for any acquisition of control of a Canadian business that exceeds prescribed thresholds. If the thresholds are not reached, the investor is only obliged to file a notification either before or within 30 days of closing. A similar notification obligation applies when a foreign investor establishes a new business in Canada.The “national security” review process applies more broadly, including to foreign investments that are not subject to the net benefit process, such as acquisitions of minority interests in Canadian businesses. The Invest Canada Act authorizes the Canadian government to intervene in any investment that it finds “injurious” to Canadian national security.On March 8, 2022, the government issued a policy statement regarding the review of Russian investors’ investments in Canada, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The policy provides that all direct or indirect investments by Russian investors (whether or not connected to the Russian government) that are subject to a net benefit review under the ICA will be approved only on “an exceptional basis.” Furthermore, all investments that have “ties, direct or indirect, to an individual or entity associated with, controlled by or subject to influence by the Russian state” will provide grounds for a full and formal national security review under the ICA.concept of national security will continue to expand beyond traditional concerns about espionage, national defence and critical infrastructure to a broader concept of national security that includes sensitive personal data, and strategic technologies and products that will drive the economy of the future