The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (Notifiable Acquisition) (Specification of Qualifying Entities) Regulations 2021

Interpretation U.K.

1.  In this Schedule—

“2D” means two-dimensional;

“3D” means three-dimensional;

“advanced composites” relates to structural composite materials with either metallic or ceramic matrices and includes 3D reinforcing architectures for any matrix (polymer, metal or ceramic);

“advanced materials” means completely new materials and materials that are developments on traditional materials, where such materials provide any of the following—

(a)

targeted properties;

(b)

advantageous properties;

(c)

outstanding structural properties; or

(d)

outstanding functional properties;

“enabler” means any material or process which is not a material described in paragraph 2(3) or 3 but is used in the manufacture or application of such materials;

“fabrication” in sector (7) (semiconductors) of the table set out in paragraph 3 means the process of producing a microelectronic circuit on a semiconductor substrate or using other advanced materials;

“graphene and related 2D” are those materials with attributes as defined within ISO/TS 80004-13:2017(1);

“metamaterial”—

(a)

means a composite material in which the constituents are designed and spatially arranged through a rational design-led approach to change the manner in which electromagnetic, acoustic or vibrational energy interacts with the material, in order to achieve a property or performance that is not possible naturally and includes a metasurface and for this purpose “composite material” means a solid material formed from two or more constituents and “constituent” includes a region containing a vacuum, gas or liquid;

(b)

does not include the types of composite materials the advanced composites described in paragraph 5 and composites or coatings containing pigments or fillers that are mixed in or blended into a binder material where both of these types of composite materials can be a constituent from which a metamaterial may be formed;

“metasurface” means a two-dimensional form of metamaterial which includes one or more layers of material that are intentionally patterned or textured (irrespective of whether they are periodic or not) through a rational design-led approach;

“nanotechnology” means the manipulation and control of matter predominantly in the nanoscale to make use of size-and-structure-dependent properties and phenomena distinct from those associated with individual atoms or molecules, or extrapolation from larger sizes of the same material (where “manipulation and control” includes material synthesis in relation to nanotechnology) with current or potential utility for defence, including nanomaterials, nanodevices, nanocomponents and nanosystems (including nanomachines) in accordance with ISO/TR 10993-22:2017(2);

“nanomaterials” means materials with any external dimension in the nanoscale or having internal structure or surface structure in the nanoscale and include nano-objects, dispersions or mixtures containing nano-objects, and nanostructured material (including structuring at an interface between materials, including air, and within a material) in accordance with ISO/TR 10993-22:2017;

“packaging” in sector (7) (semiconductors) of the table set out in paragraph 3 means the process of turning a microelectronic circuit on an appropriate substrate into a package suitable for use in an electronic circuit but does not include the assembly and packaging of chips and devices into circuit boards;

“photonic and optoelectronic materials and devices” in sector (8) of the table set out in paragraph 3 relate to high power lasers that are characterised by a combination of power at the output apertures (values of 1 kilowatt and above), beam quality (M² of less than 1.2), intended operating ranges (greater than 1 kilometre) and at wavelengths compatible with propagation over those distances (typically 1 micrometre to 2 micrometres wavelengths);

“semiconductor” means—

(a)

semiconductors used to form radio frequency and microwave devices;

(b)

semiconductors used to realise imaging sensor arrays;

(c)

the accessibility of design and production for semiconductor devices and chips where “chips” include Field Programmable Gate Array devices, System on Chip, Application Specific Integrated Circuits and Readout Integrated Circuits and where “devices” includes radio and microwave frequency control circuitry, power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers and monolithic microwave integrated circuits and detectors;

“technical textiles” means textiles (and their processes and enablers) specifically developed for their functional performance including additional functionality (such as integrated computing, processing or data transmission), 3D architectures, protection against blast and ballistic events but does not include sportswear or clothing that is ordinarily available to consumers or household goods.

Commencement Information

I1 Sch. 1 para. 1 in force at 4.1.2022, see reg. 1(2)

(1)

ISO/TS 80004-13:2017 Nanotechnologies-Vocabulary-Part 13 Graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials is published by the International Organization for Standardization. The terms and definitions set out in the standard are available at https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:ts:80004:-13:ed-1:v1:en.

(2)

ISO/TR 10993-22:2017 Nanotechnologies-Vocabulary-Part 1: Core terms is published by the International Organization for Standardization. The terms and definitions set out in the standard are available at https://www.iso.org/obp/ui#iso:std:iso:tr:10993:-22:ed-1:v1:en.