State Aid and Subsidies

We provide comprehensive advice on state aid law and subsidies to private and public companies across a wide range of industries as well as to governmental bodies. We represent our clients in state aid proceedings before national courts and public authorities as well as before the EU courts and the European Commission. Our state aid team works closely together with our experts from our commercial and public law pratices (particularly in the fields of M&A, restructuring, procurement law, tax law, IP/intellectual property rights, foreign trade law and public commercial law), and our team benefits from the good contacts our Brussels office has to the European institutions, especially to the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition. Our lawyers regularly hold lectures/seminars and publish on topics relating to subsidies law.

Our key areas:


Notification and application proceedings for grants/approval of state aid/subsidies


Recovery proceedings


State aid law compliance and state aid law training


Advising and representing clients in competitor complaint proceedings


State aid due diligence and developing strategies to avoid risks of recovery claims or any other state-aid related exposure in the context of corporate transactions


Representation before national authorities and the European Commission


Litigating before national courts and the courts of the European Union in Luxembourg


State aid law advice in connection with infrastructure and transport projects


Research and development state aid, research cooperation and contract research


Structuring privatizations in line with state aid law, PPP and returning businesses to local community ownership 


Advice to distressed companies 


Devising aid schemes


Legal opinions on state aid law issues


WTO anti-subsidy law