EUROPEAN UNION: DESCRIPTION

The Brussels office of McKenna Long & Aldridge counsels clients on a wide range of business law, regulatory and trade matters relating to commercial activities in the European Union. Our expertise covers both EU and Member State laws.

Our Brussels-based lawyers provide clients with regular reports and briefings on judicial and administrative developments in the EU and in most of the EU Member States. In addition, we assist companies and trade associations in developing and implementing strategies designed to influence the European legislative and regulatory process.

European Union Regulatory Law Practice

In the area of EU regulatory law, our practice includes the fields of chemicals, pesticides, biocides, cosmetics, food, pharmaceuticals, electronic products, textiles, industrial minerals, and medical devices, including related business and antitrust issues that arise when drafting and negotiating commercial agreements or setting up task forces.

We represent European, American, and Asian clients and advise them on product regulation issues and product defense strategies. In addition to guiding clients through the maze of EU regulations, we often lobby EU and Member State institutions on our clients’ behalf before legislation is adopted and, when necessary, represent their interests in related litigation before the European Court of Justice, the European Court of First Instance, and various Member State courts.

The REACH regulation has created significant new concerns for industry, both in the EU and abroad (particularly in the United States). Our Brussels office is actively monitoring and analyzing REACH developments while educating and advising our clients on these new provisions. Building on its expertise and reputation in the chemicals sector, the Brussels office attorneys have undertaken multiple initiatives aimed at informing our clients about the impact this new program will have on their products, and helping them develop appropriate business plans that anticipate and, where possible, mitigate such impacts.

The Brussels office attorneys offer clients advice on a wide range of issues in the majority of the EU Member States and have a well-established network of correspondent law firms in the other Member States. This allows us to assist our global clients in their European business activities, such as advising them on the opening, closing, and liquidation of branches and subsidiaries, the purchase or sale of European businesses, and all regulatory and compliance matters related to operating a business or selling products in the various jurisdictions of the EU.

Corporate and Transactional Law Practice

From a corporate and transactional law perspective, we focus on the general corporate representation of both publicly and privately held companies, specializing in mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures and strategic alliances, particularly for clients based in Europe and the United States.

While we have many years’ experience in serving as lead counsel for corporate transactions of all types and sizes, in particular we have extensive experience with complex, international acquisition transactions that often are coupled with a long-term strategic relationship among the parties. In this regard, our Brussels’ corporate partners have served as lead counsel in dozens of acquisitions and/or strategic alliances throughout Europe and North America, such as in Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In acting as lead counsel in transactions with international dimensions, we also work with and manage the efforts of local counsel to ensure that our clients are well represented with respect to local and country specific laws, regulations, and customs in an efficient, non-duplicative manner. When and where appropriate, we draw upon the resources and specialists resident in our other offices, including our public procurement practitioners. Brussels office attorneys are fluent in a variety of languages, including English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Romanian.

Environmental and Other Industry Sector EU Regulatory Engagements

Our attorneys advise clients in other fields of environmental, health & safety and consumer protection law, including water and air pollution control; permitting; waste management, shipment and disposal; packaging and packaging waste; biotechnology; worker health & safety; ecological labeling; environmental auditing requirements/due diligence reviews in connection with the purchase and sale of companies in the EU; car and battery recovery schemes; toys; personal protective equipment; medical devices; sporting goods; food; and product liability.

Drawing on our experience as the world’s original and largest public procurement law firm, our attorneys across the firm regularly advise clients on EU, U.S., and international public procurement issues and disputes.

Finally, our Brussels attorneys provide legislative and regulatory counseling in several substantive areas of law as they relate to doing business in Europe, including competition law, trade remedies, intellectual property, product liability questions, work permit and tax ruling applications, and ancillary legal services required by local and multinational businesses in the conduct of their commercial and administrative activities.

Projects include:

Complaint with the European Commission for infringement of Community law by Germany concerning introduction of German local taxes on disposable packaging.
Counseling, bid protest, and arbitration involving NATO.
Advice to several clients in filing applications for “Green Dot” packaging take-back/recycling systems applications in Germany, Belgium and France.
Advice to a cosmetics manufacturer with respect to packaging recycling obligations for sale of products in duty-free shops.
Advice to a U.S. garment producer on EU eco-label criteria for textile products.
Counsel to a major U.S. pharmaceutical company on CFC essential use application for MDIs and stockpiling of CFCs.
Advice to a textile manufacturer on restrictions under Directive 76/769.
Advice to a U.S. electronic components producer on EU Member States’ implementation of EU regulations on shipment/classification of waste, in order to determine notification/licensing requirements for each party involved in the client’s European cross-border component take-back/recycling scheme.
Counsel to multinational electronics industry clients regarding developments on EU and national regulatory initiatives related to waste, including the compilation of a “European Hazardous Waste List”
involving classification of certain electronics industry wastes as hazardous, and on national initiatives proposing take-back and recycling of used electrical and electronic equipment.
Counseling on EU and Member State public procurement laws and regulations.
Counsel to major European cement producer on rights/obligations and national laws bearing on cross-border shipments of waste products for use as fuel in cement kilns, with reference to the EU regulation on shipments of waste and the OECD waste classification initiative.
Developing lobbying strategy for a European pharmaceutical company relating to legislative action on recycling of health care waste.
Advice to a multinational company on choice between ISO and EMAS environmental management schemes.
Environmental due diligence for a site in the port of Rotterdam; a steel manufacturing line in Flanders; and acquisition of sulfuric acid production plants in France and Belgium.
Advice to several industries and lobbying on development of BAT reference documents under IPPC Directive.
Advice to non-EU manufacturers of ink preparations with respect to notification exemptions for their chemicals in Switzerland and assistance in negotiating and obtaining longer phase-out periods for certain restricted chemicals in EFTA countries.
Review of product liability issues for generic drugs in several jurisdictions.

For further information on the firm's European Union law practices, click on the links below: