Public commercial law

In our practice, public law predominantly concerns public commercial law. After all, commercial activities are not only subject to regulations and permit requirements under building or environmental law. Sector-specific frameworks on which we regularly advise draw, for instance, on the German Public Transportation Act (Personenbeförderungsgesetz) and the General Railways Act (Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz) in the transport sector, the requirements relating to product security and product liability for the manufacturing industry and the multitude of legal provisions in the field of healthcare.

Government support and subsidies for commercial activities have traditionally formed a core topic for many of our clients. We advise on the EU ban on state aid, with the aim, for instance, of avoiding the risk of legal transactions being rendered void, of the European Commission intervening or of competitor claims being raised. Our close integration with the public procurement team is particularly valuable when issues such as the risk of state aid being recalled due to breaches of public procurement law are at stake. The ban on state aid can also require that competitive bidding procedures are executed which, although they are not subject to public procurement law, can benefit from our legal expertise in this field, as can questions relating to the granting of concessions in the energy sector.

Recent political developments have brought foreign trade law increasingly back into the spotlight. We can advise on the latest sanctions and can draw on our global network to respond to related questions in other jurisdictions, such as US Secondary Sanctions, which are also important for German and European companies. We support foreign investors in investment review procedures in line with the German Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung).

Our clients benefit from the fact that we work closely with other practice groups. We also advise on specific constitutional questions which, for instance, are related to the requirements under collective employment law or the provisions governing working on Sundays and bank holidays under the German Working Hours Act (Arbeitszeitgesetz).