Expertise

A practical approach with international expertise

Commercial, Compliance and E-Commerce Law

Bahl & Co. is a leader in commercial, compliance and e-commerce law, covering litigation, regulatory and transactional issues for clients across many sectors. We also deal with regulators such as the ACM, European Commission, Agentschap Telecom, NVWA, IGJ, ILT, CDIU, RVO, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens and Farmatec.

We represent clients on a wide variety of matters involving competition law (including private enforcement and damages actions), regulatory issues, consumer, EU and trade, data protection and commercial contracting (including distribution, agency, franchise, supply and cooperation arrangements).

 

1. Competition, European Law and International Trade

 

  • Damages claims and other competition litigation and private enforcement actions

  • Cartels

  • Abuses of dominance

  • Exclusive supply/distribution, selective distribution, franchising, cooperation, pricing, discounts and rebates

  • Competition law vertical and horizontal issues in contracts (such as non-competition and other restrictive covenants), transactions (including merger control, non-competes, competition due diligence, competition warranties and indemnities) and online sales

  • Dealing with ACM and European Commission on competition law issues and corporate and individual liability

  • Foreign investment permissions

  • BIT/trade law issues

  • Product requirements/compliance with EU directives

  • Export control licensing and sanctions

  • Anti-bribery legislation

2. Regulatory

 

  • Consumer protection regulation such as internet sales, website use transparency and privacy, terms & conditions, product liability

  • Telecoms and satellites regulation

  • Life sciences (medical devices, supplements, pharma)

  • Medical services and dentistry

  • Data protection GDPR and domestic privacy considerations

  • Other sectoral/regulation issues

Internal Investigations

We routinely assist businesses investigating whether they or their employees or partners have engaged in any illegal behaviour which can entail liability. This is done by document review, reviewing custodian emails and using other IT forensic tools and means. We can then advise on the best action to take.

Compliance Training

We also place great emphasis on avoiding adverse regulatory scrutiny by providing training and advice to clients on competition law and other regulatory compliance, including mock dawn-raids.

3. Commercial Contracting

 

  • Distribution arrangements such as exclusive supply/distribution contracts, selective distribution, reseller agreements

  • Agency agreements

  • Franchising

  • Cooperation arrangements and JVs

  • Outsourcing contracts

  • Supply strategy

  • Pricing (and discounts and rebates) strategy


4. Litigation and Arbitration

 

  • Litigation

  • NCC and Arbitration

  • ADR

  • Complex matters involving a variety of commercial and corporate issues

Matters

• Substantial private law damages claim before the Amsterdam District Court against various trucks’ manufacturers for a leading European logistics company based in Murcia, Spain.

• Fortune 500 major US headquartered global IT distributor – Work included many competition, commercial, litigation, data protection and regulatory matters in the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Ireland, France and Germany.

• Fortune 500 IT products and services company – Supported this IT products and services company, one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies with around USD 38 billion in revenues, on various competition, commercial and regulatory matters including a European Commission merger filing and a large internal investigation.

• Defended international retail store chain in complex high value litigation in the Netherlands including competition law and economics based counter arguments.

• World renowned medical devices and hearing aids company – merger control advice regarding the potential acquisition of a competitor.

• Privacy and data protection advice as well as other regulatory advice and court actions regarding access to the Dutch market by a provider of medical testing services.

• Chinese telecoms provider – Telecom licensing and foreign investment regulatory issues.

• Successfully acting for supplier of electric scooters and hoverboards before the Dutch regulators in respect of various regulatory issues.

• Merger control advice and filing regarding the acquisition of Body & Fit, a vertically integrated competitor with a market leading position in the Dutch online health supplements market, at the Dutch ACM, receiving first phase clearance.

• US based international tax consultancy - Since assisting with the acquisition of Thomson Reuters’ back office business, managing all of the client’s compliance issues in India as well as various other commercial matters.