13/11/2024
Emmelie Wijckmans spoke about the protection of confidential information in legal proceedings, BCA cases, and M&A discussions. This year, the focus of the conference was on practical strategies for companies to safeguard their data within Belgian law, with particular attention to the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) and the Market Court. It was an engaging session with leading speakers, offering valuable insights on ensuring confidentiality in a complex legal landscape.
Read more ›31/10/2024
Exciting Update for Dutch-Speaking Competition Law Professionals! The leading Dutch-Belgian law review SEW (taggen) has invited Frank Wijckmans to author a practice-oriented article on the new block exemption regulation for vertical agreements (distribution and industrial supply): ‘Een Kompas voor de nieuwe verticale groepsvrijstelling’.
Read more ›16/10/2024
In collaboration with VBO-FEB, Faros is raising further awareness of competition law among federations and its members. Together with VBO-FEB, we published a brochure on this topic and organized a study afternoon.
Read more ›15/10/2024
Today, the second Data Protection Lunch Webinar of 2024 took place. Nearly 70 professionals joined our webinar on managing data protection scenarios after rolling out direct marketing, indicating strong interest in the topic.
Read more ›26/09/2024
At the Summit themed “Commercial Negotiations in Times of Crisis,” Faros discussed take-aways on competition law in the context of negotiations. Particular focus this year was on joint purchasing and buying alliances.
Read more ›24/09/2024
Emmelie Wijckmans and Frank Wijckmans gave a presentation on ‘IP & Competition law’ during the ‘Lunch-Causerie’ of the Belgian National Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property ‘AIPPI’.
After discussing the general framework, they touched upon 7 touch points between competition law and IP.
Read more ›2/09/2024
We are excited to share that Cédric Elst has joined Faros. Cédric took his oath today and is ready to dive into his role within our competition team.
Read more ›22/08/2024
This summer, Faros team members once again headed to the studio of our video partner Arendsoog to record the next batch of Glossary videos. This series will be launched in the autumn.
Read more ›6/08/2024
They were delighted to meet a highly motivated and international group of practitioners. They were among the first to be guided through the new EU draft guidelines on exclusionary abuses. The draft was published by the European Commission late last week. Discover some key take-aways below.
Read more ›24/07/2024
Faros associate Sofie Deprez wrote an annotation on the ECJ judgment of 7 March 2024, 'IAB Europe'. This judgment concerns the scope of the concept of 'personal data' within the meaning of Article 4(1) GDPR, as well as on the qualification of joint controllers.
Read more ›19/07/2024
Today, partner Frank Wijckmans trained the Luxembourg Competition Authority on vertical agreements and, more specifically, on Regulation 2022/720.
Read more ›10/07/2024
For the fourth consecutive year, Faros partners Emmelie Wijckmans and Frank Wijckmans have authored the EU chapter of the latest edition of ICLG’s renowned ‘International Comparative Legal Guide on Vertical Agreements and Dominant Firms’.
Read more ›1/07/2024
The Faros associates attended a training offered by Expert Academy on 'Successful networking'. A more than pleasant start of the summer.
Read more ›14/06/2024
In honour of the 60th anniversary of ADDE, the "Association of Dental Dealers in Europe", Faros was invited to speak at the conference in Frankfurt organised by BVD, the German dental professional federation ("Bundesverband Dentalhandel").
Maaike Visser spoke on various competition law topics including vertical agreements and distribution formats, sustainability and professional federations. Recent developments regarding the Medical Device Regulation were also discussed. As a long-standing partner of ADDE, it was an honour to participate in this conference.
Read more ›14/06/2024
Today, Emmelie Wijckmans gave a guest lecture on competition law and arbitration proceedings in the LL.M. programme of the Brussels School of Competition.
Emmelie discussed how competition law aspects (can) occur in arbitration proceedings and how competition law can or should be applied in that case. She further shared concrete tools, based on her years of practical experience.
Read more ›12/06/2024
Pablo Figueroa, partner at Spanish law firm Pérez-Llorca (and also lecturer at Queen Mary University) visited Faros today. He had lunch with the team and gave a presentation on competition law in Spain.
It was particularly interesting to gain more insight into Spanish practice and how it differs from the Belgian landscape.
Read more ›12/06/2024
Today, partner Anouk Focquet spoke at the community event of Voka KvK Vlaams-Brabant.
Anouk participated in a panel discussion on safe and smart digital entrepreneurship. She then gave a presentation on online advertising in a legally correct way.
Read more ›24/05/2024
Today, partner Frank Wijckmans presented the new European regime on vertical agreements (Regulation 2022/720) to the Luxembourg competition authority.
Read more ›17/05/2024
The Hellenic Competition Commission and ERA organized an in-depth conference on vertical restraints. Faros partner Frank Wijckmans was invited to provide step-by-step guidance on the application of the European block exemption regime.
Read more ›16/05/2024
It started with a question during the Verticals module at the Brussels School of Competition. Super Bock, Super League, ISU, by object… Luc Peeperkorn and Frank Wijckmans assumed students had forgotten all about it after the close of the BSC sessions. Wrong, so wrong. The Friends of the Brussels School of Competition picked it up and the result was an online lunch session.
Read more ›14/05/2024
During lunch today, Anouk Focquet and Sofie Deprez gave an online session on how to maximise the potential of customer data in a data protection compliant manner. The webinar was enthusiastically received by companies from various countries, who greatly appreciated the practical session.
Read more ›30/04/2024
The Faros team was immersed in the world of commercial conflicts. Luc Demeyere has just written a book on the subject and was happy to come and explain the most important key take-aways during one of our 'Knowledge is key sessions'.
Read more ›26/04/2024
As is its biennial custom, the Order of Flemish Bars ('OVB') organised a conference with a wide range of topics and speakers oriented towards lawyers.
Read more ›18/04/2024
Faros partner Maaike Visser co-organised the annual conference of the renowned Belgian journal 'Competitio' and also acted as opening speaker. Several team members joined the conference.
Read more ›27/03/2024
The EMEA rankings of Legal 500 have been published. We are proud to announce that Faros is ranked immediately.
Read more ›26/03/2024
Maaike Visser and Femke Van Belle represented Faros at Elsa Brussels' Career Day. They spoke to plenty of students who are interested in the legal profession and in our firm.
Read more ›26/03/2024
Anouk Focquet and Julie Mannekens were invited by student organisation GLSC for a training on Privacy & Data Protection. They gave a crash course full of practical examples and relevant cases.
Read more ›20/03/2024
The updated version of the Dutch Data Protection Handbook has been published by LeA Publishers.
The title of the book is: ‘Handboek Gegevensbescherming in de diepte & in de praktijk’ (Dutch) and the manuscript was finalized on 30 September 2023.
Read more ›14/03/2024
In collaboration with Thomas Ghys of Webclew, Anouk Focquet recorded an on-demand webinar on cookies and other forms of online tracking. The webinar is now available online (free of charge).
Read more ›14/03/2024
As a start-up firm, it is not a given to be picked up by Chambers & Partners right away. It normally takes a couple of years before a new firm can enter this prestigious directory. For Faros, however, this has worked out well.
Read more ›8/03/2024
Today, Anouk Focquet spoke at the 31st VRG Alumni Day, where she gave a presentation on the European health data space ('EHDS'), and in particular on the relationship between the EHDS Regulation and the General Data Protection Regulation ('GDPR').
Following her lecture, Anouk also wrote an academic article on this topic.
Read more ›29/02/2024
Karolien Francken and Annemie Van de Vliet gave a guest lecture at UA (University of Antwerp) in the form of competition compliance training. They did so in the course ‘EU and International Economic Law’ of Professor Pierfrancesco Mattiolo.
Read more ›20/02/2024
On 20 February we organised a roundtable discussion with lawyers active in the Belgian competition world. The aim was to discuss in depth recent developments in European competition law.
Read more ›16/02/2024
The Faros data protection team is currently finalising the updated version of the Dutch Data Protection Handbook and its French translation. Publication of both works is expected later this spring.
Read more ›13/02/2024
In 2024, ADDE will celebrate its 60th anniversary. BVD (German member of ADDE) is organising a conference in Frankfurt on June 14 to celebrate this anniversary. Faros partner Maaike Visser speaks at this event.
Read more ›7/02/2024
Also in 2024, our team members will continue publishing! We just received confirmation from both JECLAP (Journal of European Competition Law & Practice) and SEW (Journal of European and Economic Law) that they will each publish a Faros article on vertical agreements in mid-2024.
Read more ›1/02/2024
Last December Frank taught the course on 'The Law and Economics of Vertical Restraints' together with Luc Peeperkorn at the Brussels School of Competition. Meanwhile, the completed exams were delivered to Frank and Luc for correction.
Read more ›28/01/2024
In honor of Data Privacy Day, our Data Protection team drafted some rules of thumb for the Brussels Bar on how to use evidence in legal proceedings in line with the GDPR. You can find the post on the LinkedIn profile of the Brussels Bar (‘Balie Brussel’).
Read more ›17/01/2024
Do you know our Glossary? Through a series of videos, we build a Glossary of the most important terms in competition law and... now also data protection law!
Read more ›11/01/2024
In collaboration with Thomas Ghys of Webclew, Anouk Focquet recently recorded an on-demand webinar on cookies and other forms of online tracking. The webinar will soon be made available online for free.
Read more ›15/12/2023
December is traditionally 'Brussels School of Competition month'. In line with the tradition, Frank Wijckmans lectured on 'The Law and Economics of Vertical Restraints', together with Luc Peeperkorn.
Read more ›23/11/2023
Our ‘Horizontal Round Table’ took place today, a conference with a select number of participants. The conference provided extensive insight into the EU's new regulatory framework on horizontal agreements.
Read more ›14/11/2023
Over the past few weeks, we were present at numerous job fairs, networking opportunities and application events.
Read more ›10/11/2023
Maaike Visser and Karolien Francken gave a guest lecture in Professor Renzo van der Bruggen’s course on ‘Commercial contract law’ (‘Handelscontractenrecht) at the University of Ghent.
Read more ›24/10/2023
On 24/10, Faros partners Emmelie Wijckmans, Karolien Francken and Frank Wijckmans spoke at the VBO-FEB event 'Are you on board with the new European Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs)'?
Read more ›5/10/2023
At Faros, we value supporting the next generation. That is why we responded with great enthusiasm when ECCEDU (European Centre for Career Education) contacted us to become part of its network. ECCEDU offers internships and courses with the aim of connecting students with the business world.
Read more ›2/10/2023
Today, Faros team members Vincent and Femke headed to the Brussels Palace of Justice to take their Oath with the Brussels Bar Association.
Read more ›1/10/2023
Frank Wijckmans had the pleasure of providing the Editorial for the latest issue of the renowned legal journal 'Competitio'.
Read more ›29/09/2023
Don't understand a thing about lawyer jargon either?
This law firm explains difficult words simply through puppetry.
Read more ›21/09/2023
Faros partner Karolien Francken was absolutely honoured to be invited by retail top magazine Gondola as guest speaker on its annual top event. The event was attended by more than 150 leading players active on Belgium’s distribution scene.
Read more ›1/09/2023
As we mark the completion of our first year since setting sail in September, we have a special announcement to share. We're thrilled to introduce Vincent, our newest team member, who joins us on this joyous occasion, making this celebration twice as special!
Read more ›21/08/2023
Last weekend, Faros was featured in a program of the leading Belgian business TV channel (Kanaal Z).
Read more ›21/08/2023
On 21 August, Faros lawyers Sofie Deprez and Julie Mannekens presented 'Hot topics in data protection: 2023' at a NCOI seminar.
Read more ›1/08/2023
Annemie Van de Vliet and Frank Wijckmans travelled to the University of Cambridge earlier this week for the annual Informa Connect ‘Competition law summer school’. Frank and Annemie lectured on the key principles and recent decisions regarding art. 102 TFEU (abuse of dominance) and co-chaired a Mock Hearing on the topic.
Read more ›27/07/2023
ICLG recently published its Comparative Legal Guide on 'Vertical Agreements and Dominant Firms'. In this latest edition and similarly to prior years, Faros lawyers Emmelie Wijckmans and Frank Wijckmans were invited to prepare the chapter focusing on the European Union.
Read more ›4/07/2023
In July and August, we welcome 4 summer interns. They will be an integral part of our team and live the Faros experience.
Read more ›13/06/2023
On 13 June, Faros partner Karolien Francken took the stage at the Informa Connect conference ‘Vertical Restraints and Distribution’, where she joined the panel on 'Selective & Exclusive Distribution'. Many valuable insights were shared at the conference. Click on ‘Read more’ to discover them.
Read more ›7/06/2023
According to tradition, Emmelie Wijckmans is heading to Cambridge this summer to teach at Informa Connect's Summer School.
Read more ›30/05/2023
Faros partner, Frank Wijckmans, and Luc Peeperkorn (former Principal Advisor Antitrust Policy at European Commission), have co-authored an insightful article in the prestigious European Competition Law Review. The article delves into the new European rules on vertical agreements (the “VBER”).
Read more ›11/05/2023
On 11/05, Faros organised '1st anniversary of VBER: looking beyond the EU borders'. This was an online lunch session celebrating the first anniversary of the EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER). We compared the EU regime with those applicable in Switzerland, the UK, Turkey and Serbia. The session uncovered the main similarities and differences.
Read more ›2/05/2023
On Tuesday, May 2, Faros attended a hearing at the Court of Justice's Grand Chamber regarding a positive doping decision that involved an Austrian athlete (C-115/22). The athlete requested that the decision would not be published, but the national anti-doping authority refused, citing legal requirements. The athlete appealed to the Independent Arbitration Commission (USK), which submitted several preliminary questions to the Court.
Read more ›24/04/2023
On April 24th, Karolien Francken spoke at the 32nd Annual Conference of Informa Connect. She was part of a panel discussion with Tobias Kruis (Director, Ethics & Compliance Europe; Global Competition Counsel, TD SYNNEX) and Vincent Stier (Senior Legal Counsel, EDEKA Verband) on vertical restraints. Discover the range of topics that were covered below.
Read more ›19/04/2023
The Faros data protection team is ranked in Tier 2 for ‘EU Regulatory: Privacy And Data Protection’ and our partner Anouk Focquet is again a ‘rising star’.
Read more ›18/04/2023
On 18 April, Maaike Visser and Femke Van Belle represented Faros at the ‘Career Day’ of the student organization Elsa Brussel.
Read more ›5/04/2023
The EU Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) turns one year old! During a (! free) online event on 11/05 (12:00-14:00 CET), we place the VBER in a pan-European context to mark this anniversary.
Read more ›31/03/2023
On 30/03, Faros partners Maaike Visser and Emmelie Wijckmans spoke at the Competitio annual conference, hosted by De Experten and Intersentia Ltd, to share the latest developments in Belgian competition law.
Read more ›29/03/2023
On Wednesday 29th March, our data protection team hosted an interactive session on GDPR for the student organization ELSA Brussel. Just like we do for our clients!
Read more ›14/03/2023
The VGA Academy kick-started with an initial session on arbitration in Hasselt on March 14th, 2023.
Read more ›13/03/2023
Karolien Francken, who leads compliance at Faros, was invited to the launch of the chair created by VBO-FEB at the law faculties of the universities in Ghent and Liège.
Read more ›2/03/2023
Using a practical 10-point checklist Anouk Focquet and Sofie Deprez reiterated the basics of the GDPR to Brussels-based lawyers.
Read more ›21/02/2023
Faros just forwarded to Chambers & Partners its very first submission! Chambers is however quicker than ever. The Global Legal Guide 2023 just issued that Faros is already picked up even though we started our niche practices in competition, data protection and compliance at the very end of the research period.
Read more ›20/02/2023
Anouk Focquet, Sofie Deprez and Julie Mannekens published a commentary on a landmark judgment by the Market Court rendered on 1 December 2021 concerning abuse of rights in data protection.
Read more ›30/01/2023
On 30/01, the Federation of Belgian Enterprises (VBO-FEB) organized a conference for its members on the new European legislation on vertical agreements. A number of distinguished speakers shared their experience regarding the new rules.
Read more ›19/12/2022
In a line with the tradition, Frank Wijckmans spent his Friday afternoons at the Brussels School of Competition in recent weeks, where he teaches the course 'The Law and Economics of Vertical Restraints' together with Luc Peeperkorn.
Read more ›13/12/2022
The Paralegal Day is organized by NCOI Learning to address various legal topics closely related to the day-to-day practice of in-house lawyers and paralegals. Anouk Focquet and Julie Mannekens were invited to the Paralegal Day to reflect on the implementation of the GDPR in practice.
Read more ›8/12/2022
Anouk Focquet, Sofie Deprez, and Julie Mannekens launched the second edition of the book Bos Door De Bomen: Gegevensbescherming'. On the occasion of this publication, we organized an event 'Faros in conversation with Peter Berghmans (DPO), David Stevens (former first president GBA), and Anne-Marie Witters (president Market Court)'.
Read more ›28/11/2022
Faros becomes a partner of the Alumni Program of the Brussels School of Competition.
Read more ›18/11/2022
Tilman Kuhn (White & Case) and Frank Wijckmans (Faros) presented the new block exemption regulation on vertical agreements (Regulation 2022/720) at a conference organized by the Belgian-German Lawyers’ Association in Düsseldorf.
Read more ›15/11/2022
We are always looking for enthusiastic students who can support our team during a summer or winter internship. Faros lawyers Anouk Focquet, Julie Mannekens and Kaat Aerts were therefore present at the Elsa Leuven networking event to introduce our new niche firm to the KU Leuven students.
Read more ›8/11/2022
Frank Wijckmans chaired a panel session devoted to online ticket distribution at Informa’s Conference held in Brussels on “Competition Law in the Aviation Sector”.
Read more ›4/11/2022
‘Kilpailuoikeus 2022’ brings together the competition law community in Finland. Faros partner Frank Wijckmans was invited to provide a solid 1 ½ hour update on the new European regime on vertical agreements.
Read more ›2/11/2022
Even more so when this can be done in a cozy round table setting with participants from various businesses and different member states (spread out from Sweden to Bulgaria).
Read more ›26/10/2022
Frank Wijckmans was invited to speak in Budapest at an OECD-organised training, for the Hungarian Competition Authority.
He was the only private practitioner in a room filled with competition law enforcers.
Read more ›21/10/2022
Anouk Focquet, Sofie Deprez and Julie Mannekens of our data protection team have released today their practice-driven monograph (300 p.) on data protection in Belgium. The book (in Dutch) guides the reader through the data protection landscape and aims to make this field of the law as accessible as possible.
Read more ›4/10/2022
On 23 September Frank Wijckmans participated in a panel discussion at an all-day academic event organised by the University of Leuven (KUL) dedicated to the new Civil Code (the law of contractual obligations). His main role was to inject a practitioner's and competition law perspective.
Read more ›1/10/2022
A month after Faros started, we invited our families to come and have a look at our brand-new office.
Read more ›26/09/2022
In response to the launch of the new European rules on vertical agreements on 1 June 2022, Frank Wijckmans and Karolien Francken published a 'Toolbook for practitioners'. The Toolbook includes the new texts with handy indications by means of keywords in bold. Furthermore, there is a practical Q&A (35 p.), which helps to apply the new rules in practice.
Read more ›20/09/2022
Faros gladly accepted the very kind invitation of the Robotics Department of the University of Brussels and spin-off company Axiles Bionics to take a closer look at their operations. This visit is consistent with Faros’ strong belief that its team does not only need to advise companies, but also to listen to business leaders to get a better feeling for the business reality. Many thanks to Pierre, Lennart and Jacques for their willingness to reserve so much quality time for the Faros team. This kind of visits can only help us to be better advisors and partners of our business clients.
Read more ›15/09/2022
Faros lawyers Frank Wijckmans, Karolien Francken and Emmelie Wijckmans were absolutely honoured to be invited by retail top magazine Gondola as guest speakers on its annual top event. The event was attended by more than 100 leading players active on Belgium’s distribution scene. Our Faros lawyers emphasized the unique importance of 2022 when it comes to the legal principles applicable to the distribution world. They offered a speed date with the new rules both under European and Belgian law.
Read more ›1/09/2022
We have been looking forward to this for a long time and now it is finally happening: Faros is taking off! As from 1 September 2022 we are more than ready to support you in competition law, data protection law and compliance.
Read more ›1/09/2022
The set-up is crisp and clear: limited groups and focus on the details of the new European regime (Regulation 2022/720). We will go the extra mile in terms of content and practical relevance. Sessions are scheduled for 13/10 (Dutch), 20/10 (English). Each session is eligible for 7 OVB points and 7 IBJ points.
Read more ›22/08/2022
Anouk Focquet and Sofie Deprez spoke in August 2022 during NCOI Learning’s webinar days.
Read more ›5/08/2022
Emmelie Wijckmans and Frank Wijckmans published in the International Comparative Legal Guides 2022 their EU competition law contribution on “Vertical Agreements and Dominant Companies”. The interplay between verticals and dominance is fascinating and it is presented in a handy Q&A format.
Read more ›1/08/2022
The Data Protection team of Faros finalized and handed in its manuscript of what is expected to become the most practical handbook on Belgian data protection law. Publication is expected for 03/10/2022.
Read more ›25/07/2022
Within short, employees stepping on board or starting up a new project will benefit from a unique way of familiarizing themselves with the compliance requirements imposed by competition law. With the assistance of Comic House and Lectrr the Faros team has developed an animated movie that does the trick.
Read more ›27/04/2022
Lawyers of the Faros competition team have bundled their comments on the draft Horizontal Guidelines of the European Commission. In doing so, they relied extensively on their experience with the existing 2010 Guidelines.
Read more ›31/03/2022
As part of the preparation of the new block exemption regulation on vertical agreements, Frank Wijckmans was invited by DG Competition to submit an Expert Report on certain specific issues that were on the table of the drafters. The Expert Report can be consulted on the DG Competition website.
Read more ›1/03/2022
Competitio is one of the leading law reviews on competition law in Belgium. Faros partner Maaike Visser was invited to join the Editorial Board of Competitio and plays an active role in the success of the law review.
Read more ›