What Happened
Reform Aims to Facilitate Defense Investment Across Europe
The European Union has enacted a major reform of its defense procurement and intra-EU transfer rules, aiming to simplify and accelerate procedures for buying defense- and security-related goods and transferring them between member states. The reform increases the thresholds determining which contracts are covered by the Defense Procurement Directive and introduces new general transfer licenses for EU-funded defense projects and industrial partnerships. The changes are expected to reduce regulatory complexity and costs, encouraging greater participation by smaller companies and startups. The reform was reported by Crowell & Moring LLP.