Philippe De Baere

Overview

Philippe De Baere is one of the firm’s senior partners. His practice focuses on EU and WTO trade law as well as EU customs law, export controls and sanctions.

EU and International Trade 

Philippe has been involved in most major EU anti-dumping, anti-circumvention and anti-subsidy proceedings since 1990. He represents clients before the European Commission, the EU General Court, the EU Court of Justice, WTO Panels and the WTO Appellate Body. Notable cases include Giant Electric Vehicles v Commission, MTZ Polyfilms v Council and Far Eastern Textile, Ltd. v Council, a case which addressed the use of zeroing methodologies in anti-dumping investigations. .

WTO

Philippe assists WTO Members in various WTO dispute settlement proceedings. Recent disputes include: Russia – Traffic in Transit; Turkey – Pharma Products; EU — Palm Oil (Indonesia) and UK — CFD (EU). He was also involved in, inter alia, EC – Importation, Distribution and Sale of Bananas; EC – Pipe Fittings; US – Continued Existence and Application of Zeroing Methodology; Dominican Republic - Safeguard Measures on Imports of Polypropylene Bags and Tubular Fabric; Russian Federation — Recycling Fee on Motor Vehicles; Ukraine – Definitive Safeguard measures on certain passenger cars and EU — Safeguard Measures on Steel (Turkey). Most notably, in EC – Definitive Anti-Dumping Measures on Certain Iron or Steel Fasteners from China dispute, the Appellate Body found that the EU’s Basic Anti-Dumping Regulation, as such, was incompatible with the EU’s WTO obligations. Philippe has also assisted governments during their WTO accession negotiations as well as during the Uruguay Round and Doha Round negotiations.

FTA

Philippe regularly advises governments during their FTA negotiations with the EU. He has also assisted the Government of Korea during the first dispute ever brought by the EU under the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter of an FTA.

Customs and Export Controls

Philippe represents several large manufacturers of high technology products in disputes concerning customs classification, valuation and origin. Notable cases include Canon Europa v Commission, Kyocera Mita Europe v Commission and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe v Commission, a case in which the EU General Court took the unprecedented step of annulling a customs classification regulation in a direct action by the company concerned. In WTO disputes related to customs issues, Philippe successfully assisted Japan and Chinese Taipei in the EC – Tariff Treatment of Certain Information Technology Products dispute. He also advised the US in EC – Selected Customs Issues and Japan in its recent dispute with India on the duty treatment of ICT goods.