Press Releases

HFW wins historic EU court ruling in Xinanchem appeal

19 July 2012

On Thursday 19 July 2012, The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) handed down a historic judgment which sided with HFW's client Zheijang Xinan Chemical (Xinanchem).

The appeal case, which centred around the EU Commission's approach to assessing "market economy treatment" (MET) of State-owned or State-controlled companies, has been described by Advocate General Kokott as one "of fundamental important for future trade relations between the European Union and a number of dynamic emerging countries, such as the People's Republic of China".

The ruling will require the Commission to reform its approach towards MET assessment in a way which should improve the prospects of Chinese exporters to the EU.

The successful defence against the Council's appeal was handled by Konstantinos Adamantopoulos, Partner and Folkert Graafsma, Partner, in association with Xinanchem's international trade counsel, Daniel Moulis of Moulis Legal. The case was originally handled by Dan Horovitz (HFW Brussels Partner) who passed away in 2010.

To read HFW's briefing on this case, please click here.

For more information, please contact Tania Phayre, Head of Marketing Communications, on +44 (0)20 7164 8546 or tania.phayre@hfw.com.