Victor Crochet

EU economic law and policy

Victor advises governments and corporations on how to navigate the intricacies of EU economic law and related legislative processes with a particular focus on matters affecting third country governments and companies based therein.

For example, Victor recently provided advise to governments and multinational corporations on several recent EU legislative initiatives such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, the Deforestation Regulation, Critical Raw Materials Act, etc. In this regard, Victor focuses on assisting entities understand, and assess the impact, of these initiatives on their businesses as well as influencing the legislative process using the legal tools at their disposal.

Additionally, Victor assists companies in complying with their obligations under EU economic measures such as those described above. He also advises so governments and corporations with regard to how they could take actions, legal or through other means against the measures that most negatively affect their interests.

 

Trade Defence

 Victor provides assistance to companies and governments in trade defence investigations. He has advised clients in nearly three dozen anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard investigations initiated by the European Commission and by third countries, successfully obtaining no or low duties for clients in several instances.

Furthermore, Victor has extensive experience in litigating before the Court of Justice of the European Union where he has challenged several anti-dumping and countervailing measures imposed by the European Commission. For example, Victor successfully represented a thermal paper manufacturer in its challenge of the anti-dumping measures imposed on imports of light weight thermal paper by the European Commission.

 

International economic law and policy

Victor assists governments in WTO proceedings before panels and the Appellate Body or other appeal arrangements. Victor has advised governments on disputes regarding several agreements including the Anti-Dumping Agreement, SCM Agreement, Safeguard Agreement, SPS Agreement, TBT Agreement, GATT 1994, etc. In this regard, he for example recently was part of the team that challenged the EU steel safeguard measures before the WTO.

Victor’s experience also includes advising governments and multinational corporations on a variety of economic policy matters. In this regard, Victor often provides legal opinions regarding the legality of measures adopted by the EU as well as third countries under international trade and investment law. Victor also regularly advises governments on how to ensure that their domestic measures are in line with international economic law and on how to develop economic policies in line with such rules.

Finally, Victor often provides assistance to governments with regard to international trade and investment negotiations by assisting them develop negotiation strategies and during the negotiations.

On the side, Victor conducts academic research on issues related to subsidies, industrial policies and EU trade policy. Victor also regularly speaks at seminars on these topics and publishes in leading journals. Furthermore, he teaches part of the course on international trade law at Cambridge University.

Prior to joining Van Bael & Bellis, Victor was an intern with the Appellate Body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization in Geneva. Victor also worked as an intern at the World Customs Organization.

Languages

French, English

Recommendations and Awards

• Who’s Who Legal (Global Guide): Trade & Customs
• South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Ministerial Award (2023)
• Society of International Economic Law, Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press Prize (2020)

Education

• Cambridge University, PhD in Legal Studies, ongoing
• Georgetown Law Center, LL.M. in International Legal Studies, with distinction, 2016
• University of Leuven, Master of European and International Law, magna cum laude, 2015
• Melbourne Law School, Erasmus Exchange Programme, 2014
• University of Brussels (ULB), Bachelor of Law, cum laude, 2012

Publications

Articles and Books

Critical insecurities? The European Union’s Strategy for a Stable Supply of Minerals, Journal of International Economic Law (2024);

Preventing the Anti-Circumvention Instrument from Undermining Development Through Investment, ICLQ (2023);

The EU Anti-Coercion Proposal: Legitimate Trade Instrument or Hidden ‘Economic’ Sanctions?, EU Law Live (2022);

Trade Defence Instruments: A New Tool for the European Union’s Extractivism, European Journal of International Law (2022);

Fascicule: Dumping en droit de l’Union Européenne, in ‘Juris Classeur Encyclopédie : Europe Traité’ (Lexis Nexis, 2021) ;

ELSA John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition on WTO law, case author (2021-2022);

Lawful Remedy or Illegal Response? Resolving the Issue of Foreign Subsidization Under WTO Law, World Trade Review (2021);

China’s ‘Going Global’ policy: Transnational subsidies under the WTO SCM Agreement, Journal of International Economic Law (2020) awarded the Society of International Economic Law, Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press Prize 2020;

At the crossroads of trade and environment: The growing influence of environmental policy on EU trade law, in A. Orsini & E. Kavvatha, ‘EU Environmental Governance: Current and Future Challenges’ (Routledge, 2020);

Contributor to Van Bael & Bellis, EU Anti-Dumping and Other Trade Defence Instruments (Kluwer, 2019).

Bar Admission

Brussels