On Thursday, 11 December 2025, the SCRC organised a roundtable event at the Faculty of Law entitled “Economic Security and Sanctions: New Challenges for Global Supply Chains.” The event featured two leading experts on economic security and data-driven policy analysis: MSc. Lenka Hojerová, Head of the Economic Resilience Unit at the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Dr. Jiří Skuhrovec, a data analyst and economist at the Datlab Institute.

At the beginning, Lenka Hojerová introduced the concept of economic security and its various meanings. She then moved on to focus on the instruments that the European Union is developing in this area, including an updated framework for foreign investment screening, expanding export controls and anti-coercion instrument. She also pointed out that, in accordance with the European Economic Security Strategy, the EU is trying to avoid an escalation spiral in these policies — a significant difference compared to other trade powers.

In his presentation, Jiří Skuhrovec clearly demonstrated the importance of working with data. This includes areas such as sanctions and supply chains. The most important thing is typically to be able to work with data when evaluating the property structures of economic entities and trade dependencies, including imports and exports. Several recommendations emerged from this: companies should screen their business partners in supply chains, and states should use data to identify strategic businesses and sectors. The private and public sectors should also use data to create simulations of risk scenarios.

The subsequent lively discussion focused, among others, on the following topics: screening foreign investments in the Czech Republic; using economic migration projects to strengthen economic security; and communicating with companies about complying with sanctions, as well as enhancing their own economic security.

The roundtable was moderated by Dr. Ondřej Svoboda from the Department of International Law at Charles University’s Faculty of Law. He also took the opportunity to introduce two legal handbooks for Taiwanese companies, focusing on foreign investment screening and export controls, which he had written.