The author Philippe Billiet (center) with Ambassador of Vietnam to Belgium, Nguyen Van Thao, and Barbara Dietrich (left), CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Diplomatic World, at a reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, co-hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Belgium and Chinese Mission to the EU.
The German member of the Oracle Law Firm Group and the Brussels-based law firm BILLIET & Co have announced they would collaborate in the operation of their respective China desks.
The China desk of Oracle Germany focuses on mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and corporate formalities of China-related undertakings and initiatives that have a link with Germany. The China desk of BILLIET & Co focuses on EU regulatory and trade law matters that affect China-related undertakings and projects.
The collaboration aims to generate synergy and offer quality legal services at competitive pricing to China-related undertakings and projects in Europe, they said in a press release.
The collaboration was prompted by the new EU “de-risking” policy and its impact on trade and investment relations between China and the EU. The policy, introduced last year, focuses on certain commercial activity areas and assets that the EU says are important for its and individual member states’ national security.
The policy intends to restrict foreign ownership and investments, and introduce “safeguards reducing EU and EU member state security risks (including intentional operational disruptions and sabotage) resulting from non-EU ownership and management control of these assets.”
The EU already has a regulation on screening foreign direct investment in EU companies and assets on EU public security grounds. The application of these rules has already resulted in the blocking of certain acquisitions in the EU by non-EU entities.
The recently adopted EU International Procurement Instrument (IPI) is designed to curtail the participation in EU tenders of undertakings established in third countries that are not members of the Government Procurement Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), such as China.
The IPI has recently been invoked by the EU in the sector of medical devices. The investigation is pending and it is unclear whether the EU will be able to achieve a negotiated settlement on the matter with China.
In addition, the recently adopted Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) that distort the level playing field in the EU internal market has recently emerged as a major instrument in the EU’s de-risking and economic autonomy toolbox. The FSR allows investigations into the state financing of M&A activity in the EU of non-EU companies as well as their participation of such companies in EU tenders. If market distortive foreign subsidies are found to exist, the European Commission may adopt redressive measures restoring the “level playing field”. The European Commission has now also initiated FSR investigations into foreign subsidies against Chinese companies on its own initiative. Therefore, Chinese companies pursuing business activities in the EU must be alert on the evolving decisional practice of the European Commission in this area.
Current practices and evolutions relating to China may also be influenced by lobbyists in Brussels.
Since many China-related undertakings and projects in the EU tend to have a foothold in Germany, the provision of legal services should also include legal expertise knowledge on M&A, investment and compliance matters under German laws.
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Philippe Billiet is a lawyer based in Brussels.
