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Client Alerts 501 results
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.05.25
The EU’s Defense Readiness Roadmap and Omnibus: What Are the Competition Law Implications?
As part of a comprehensive plan to ensure that EU Member States achieve “defense readiness” by 2030, the European Commission has proposed a package of measures to facilitate public and private investments in defense by simplifying legal frameworks relevant to defense. In a previous alert, we provided an overview of the Defense Readiness Omnibus and examined its implications for defense procurement. In this alert, we focus on its implications for the enforcement of competition law.
Client Alert | 10 min read | 10.23.25
The EU’s Defense Readiness Roadmap and Omnibus: What are the Implications for Defense Procurement?
On October 16, 2025, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy presented their Defense Readiness Roadmap 2030 to the EU Member States. This comprehensive plan aims to strengthen European defense capabilities. It follows, and should be read together with, the Commission’s Defense Readiness Omnibus that was published in June 2025. The Omnibus contains a set of proposals to facilitate defense investments and boost EU Member States’ responsiveness to today’s security challenges.
Client Alert | 10 min read | 10.15.25
Understanding the EU’s International Procurement Instrument
In June 2025, the European Commission adopted its first-ever measures under the International Procurement Instrument Regulation (IPI), restricting access to the EU public procurement market for medical devices for economic operators and medical devices from the People’s Republic of China. This is the first application of the IPI, a new trade instrument aimed at tackling lack of reciprocity in access to public procurement in third countries.
Client Alert | 35 min read | 10.13.25
Building Blocks of Design Law: CJEU rules on LEGO Group Modular Design Protection
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recently issued a landmark judgment in the LEGO Group case (C-211/24) concerning the scope of EU design protection for modular systems. This recent judgment addresses fundamental questions regarding the protection and enforcement of Community designs for modular products, specifically the LEGO Group’s iconic toy building blocks and parts:
Client Alert | 8 min read | 10.10.25
Investing in UK Defence – Under Regulatory Scrutiny
The UK’s increased defence spending and zero-tariff trade on aircraft parts with the US is generating broad interest in the UK defence sector.
Client Alert | 2 min read | 10.08.25
Wage Freeze Imposed in Belgium for 2025-2026
Belgian labor law fixes the maximum margin by which labor costs may increase in any given period (the “wage norm”). The reason for this wage norm framework is to preserve the country’s competitiveness in the international market.
Client Alert | 4 min read | 09.22.25
The Future of Special Contracts in Belgium: a new Book 7 for the Belgian Civil Code
In recent years, there has been a wave of new legislation impacting contracts and contractual terms. The Belgian legislator is gradually adopting the different Books of the Belgian Civil Code, and the Belgian Code of Economic Law has been updated several times. These changes impact the drafting of contracts and contractual terms, not only between companies but also with consumers.
Client Alert | 9 min read | 09.11.25
About one year ago, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled in its landmark Illumina/Grail judgment that the European Commission could not accept merger referrals from national competition authorities under Article 22 of the EU Merger Regulation (EUMR) unless those authorities had jurisdiction to review the transaction themselves (see our previous alert).
Client Alert | 10 min read | 08.27.25
The New EU “Pharma Package”: Advertising – A Comparison of Commission/Parliament/Council Positions
In this ninth and final alert in our weekly series on the EU Pharma Package, we consider the proposals of the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the EU as regards the advertising of medicinal products and we conclude by suggesting various ways in which pharmaceutical companies can already prepare for the upcoming changes.
Client Alert | 15 min read | 08.20.25
In this eighth alert in our weekly series on the EU Pharma Package, we continue our overview of initiatives with respect to security of supply and shortage prevention and mitigation. Our last alert looked at how the Pharma Package seeks to address these issues. However, the Pharma Package does not exist in isolation, and in this alert we will discuss the interplay between its measures and those contained in other important EU initiatives such as the proposed Critical Medicines Act (CMA), and the Medicinal Countermeasures Strategy and the EU Stockpiling Strategy.
Client Alert | 16 min read | 08.13.25
In this seventh alert in our weekly series on the Pharma Package, we will discuss the increasing focus on shortages of medicinal products in the EU and the prevention and mitigation measures as proposed by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.
Client Alert | 11 min read | 08.06.25
In this sixth alert in our weekly series on the EU Pharma Package, we focus on the proposals of the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU for another topic with a highly debated scope and with diverging interpretations across EU Member States: the “Bolar” exemption.
Client Alert | 5 min read | 08.04.25
The Belgian federal government has taken two decisive steps in the implementation of its reform agenda. First, the adoption of the so-called Summer Agreement on July 21 outlines an ambitious fiscal and social overhaul. Second, the long-awaited Program Act was approved during the night of July 17 to July 18 and introduces a historic limitation on unemployment benefits. Together, these measures significantly redefine the Belgian labor market ecosystem.
Client Alert | 7 min read | 07.31.25
Significant Changes Are in the Works for EU Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Laws
Following the February announcement of the Omnibus package, the European Commission, Council, and Parliament have made several decisions indicating ways in which EU ESG laws are likely to be streamlined. This alert provides a high-level summary of the most significant proposed changes to existing and draft ESG legislation.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 07.30.25
The new EU “Pharma Package”: Global (Orphan) Marketing Authorization
In this fifth alert in our weekly series on the EU Pharma Package, we will delve into the global marketing authorization (GMA) concept which has largely remained untouched in the legislative proposal – aside from an important introduction of the notion of a GMA for orphan medicinal products. We will discuss the missed opportunity to codify existing case law and provide further clarification in this respect.
Client Alert | 4 min read | 07.25.25
On July 24, the European Commission announced the imposition of new EU countermeasures in response to U.S. tariffs further to an agreement reached among EU Member States. These measures are adopted through Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1564 and take the form of additional customs duties on U.S. products as well as export restrictions for certain EU products. In total, these measures concern about EUR 93 billion ($109 billion) worth of customs duties, the highest volume of bilateral trade caught by the EU so far. The EU countermeasures are set to enter into force as of August 7.
Client Alert | 4 min read | 07.23.25
The New EU “Pharma Package”: The Debate on Fiscal Import in the Supply Chain
In our first alert in this weekly series on the EU Pharma Package, we provided some important background and general information about the status of the Pharma Package and how the trilogues work. In the second alert, we discussed the proposed changes to regulatory data protection. Our third alert delved into the different proposals of the European Commission, Parliament, and the Council regarding the transferable exclusivity voucher (TEV) for priority antimicrobials.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 07.17.25
On 11 July 2025, the European Commission published the final version of its Code of Practice for General-Purpose Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). This Code is meant to serve as a tool for GPAI model providers, helping them to comply with the transparency, copyright and security provisions governing general-purpose AI models as set out in the AI Act (arts. 53 and 55), which will become applicable on 2 August 2025. Adherence to the Code is on a voluntary basis.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.17.25
(Not the Funniest) Weekend Update: Recap of Recent Developments in the EU-US Tariff Dispute
Since taking office earlier this year, the Trump administration has reignited tariff disputes between the European Union and the United States. The US has reimposed US Section 232 measures on steel and aluminum, extended the scope of these measures, and, on April 2nd, imposed IEEPA tariffs on EU products under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. These IEEPA tariffs were then reduced to 10% until July 9th.
Client Alert | 8 min read | 07.16.25
In our first alert in this weekly series on the EU Pharma Package we provided some important background and general information about the status of the Pharma Package and how the trilogues work, and in the second alert we discussed the proposed changes to regulatory data protection.
