Giovanni Pregno
Senior Associate
d: +32 (0)2 647 73 50
m: +32 (0)478 79 37 92
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Areas of expertise
Industries
Languages
Italian
English
French
German (basic)
Giovanni Pregno focuses on EU and Italian competition law, and EU trade defence law. He regularly represents clients in proceedings at both EU level – before the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) – and at national level before the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) and Italian courts.

Antitrust & competition

Giovanni advises clients on all aspects of EU and Italian competition law. His practice encompasses establishing legally compliant collaborations with competitors, advising on complex licensing and other IP-related issues (including loss of exclusivity strategies), distribution and parallel trade, pricing, cartel investigations, unfair competition and economic dependence, merger control, and State aid. Giovanni regularly works with clients to develop effective compliance tools tailored to their specific businesses. He also covers foreign direct investment (FDI) assessments and foreign subsidies regulation (FSR) investigations. His experience spans a wide range of sectors, including pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, industrial, shipping and new technologies.

Trade defence

Giovanni has been involved in several major anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations initiated by the EU and by third countries such as the UK, Brazil, China, New Zealand and South Africa. He regularly represents companies and associations in a wide range of industries, including steel, aluminium, chemicals, shipping, and food.

Other areas of EU law

Giovanni advises clients on EU internal market law and public procurement. His practice also covers environmental law (e.g., single-use plastic directive, packaging and packaging waste regulation, and waste shipment regulation) and new pieces of EU legislations (e.g., critical raw materials act, net-zero industry act).

Prior to joining Van Bael & Bellis, Giovanni worked as an associate in an Italian law firm where he practised competition and consumer protection law.

Contact Giovanni Pregno

Representative matters

  1. Advising leading pharmaceutical groups on high-profile EU competition law matters, including pricing strategies, loss-of-exclusivity-related strategies, distribution systems and parallel trade issues.
  2. Advising European and multinational companies on the EU competition law compliance of complex licensing and R&D cooperation agreements, including technology transfer and innovation-driven collaborations.
  3. Representing a financial holding company in a European Commission cartel investigation concerning the automotive starter batteries sector.
  4. Representing an Italian maritime transport operator before the Court of Justice of the European Union in proceedings concerning the compatibility of the direct award of a service of general economic interest with EU State aid and public procurement rules.
  5. Advising a leading Turkish construction group on Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) investigations in the context of EU public procurement procedures.
  6. Assisting major Chinese and Korean producers in EU anti-dumping, anti-subsidy, anti-circumvention and OLAF investigations.

Professional

  1. Admitted to the Italian Bar (Turin), 2019
  2. Admitted to the Brussels Bar (E-List), 2020

Academic

  1. LL.M. in EU law, College of Europe (Bruges), 2020
  2. Bachelor and Master’s degree in Law, University of Turin (Italy), 2014
  3. Erasmus LLP exchange program, University of Fribourg (Switzerland), 2012-2013
  4. Swiss mobility program, University of Bern and World Trade Institute, Bern (Switzerland), 2013

Publications

  1. The Commission’s First Attempt at Making the FSR Operational: The Guidelines on the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, EU Law Live (forthcoming): co-author
  2. Italy chapter, Merger Control 2025, Chambers Global Practice Guide (2025): co-author
  3. The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, 1st edition, Concurrences (2024): contributing author
  4. Van Bael & Bellis: Competition Law of the European Community, Kluwer 6th edition (2021): contributing co-author to the updated online version (chapter: Special Sectors: Pharmaceuticals)
  5. Regular contributor to Concurrences Bulletin, VBB Competition Law Newsletter and Van Bael & Bellis News & Insights (Life Sciences Client Alert)

Speaking engagements 

  1. EU Law in Action (lecture on: EU competition law and intellectual property: insights from Lundbeck), University of Naples (Italy), 3 May 2021: speaker.