Home to the European Commission since it first opened its doors, the Berlaymont became a symbol of the Commission and its presence in Brussels. Today, it serves as the seat of the President of the European Commission and College of Commissioners as well as six Directorates-General.
Serbia and the Western Balkans are facing numerous challenges in their European integration processes, which, as an integral part, include national laws being constantly harmonized with the EU acquis communautaire. European Law, Trade & Enlargement team’s areas of expertise include antitrust/competition law, corporate law, privatization, regulatory compliance, trade and internal market rules, intellectual property rights legislation and regulation of financial services, litigation, M&A, state aid, trade policy negotiations and many others. We have a strong commitment to enable our international clients to swiftly and effortlessly enter the regional and the EU market, while navigating through complexities of the national and EU regulatory systems. Not many regional firms can match the breadth and depth of our European Law, Trade & Enlargement practice.
Trade regulation is one of the main areas that impacts our clients’ business in Europe. The entire regional trade with the EU is regulated by a network of SAAs (Stabilization and Association Agreements), i.e. trade agreements that regulate free movement of goods, services, and capitals, freedom of establishment, and issues like competition protection and state aid control, which regulate day to day business of our clients, and which are enforced by national regulatory agencies. Meanwhile, accession process and negotiations with the EU set the pace for rapid changes in national jurisdictions.
EU rules creep in the national legislation on daily basis, and it already regulates substantial scope of economic operations. Therefore, our clients have recognized that our team provides reliable advice and practical insights in any matter regarding commercial exchange both towards and within the EU. Our people have immediate knowledge of how the EU law operates in practice, gained through immediate work with the European Commission, both as a regulator and as a main driver in the enlargement negotiations. Our team has a considerable record in competition and state aid compliance, general corporate law and corporate reorganization and restructuring, cross-border and international M&A, privatization, environmental law, tax law, trade regulation, trade-related intellectual property rules, etc.
We have expertise to provide an all-encompassing legal due diligence to help structuring business projects to progressively comply with both local rules in force and future EU rules, thus, safeguarding the long-term legal certainty of investments before and after accession to the EU. We also comprehend that our clients have a legitimate interest in taking an active part in legislative developments in both the Western Balkans and the EU and have taken upon ourselves to supply them with the first class advice and institutional framework in order to support their efforts.
