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Joost Haans LL.M.

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About

Joost Haans has been practising competition law since 1999. He advises clients on all areas of competition law, including merger control, investigations, distribution, licensing, horizontal cooperation and abuse of dominant positions.

Joost advises clients active in various industry sectors such as healthcare and life sciences, financial services, chemicals, consumer goods, agriculture and food.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONSAdvocaat registered with the Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten bij de Balie te Brussel

EXPERIENCE

  • Standing competition law counsel to a large multi-national nutrition company for more than 10 years and providing merger control assistance on many key transactions (including acquisitions and full function joint ventures) around the world, involving coordinating, preparing and making merger filings with the European Commission and around the world.
  • Standing competition law counsel to a global biotech company for more than 10 years and assisting on a variety of competition law matters, such as distribution, co-marketing, co-promotion, abuse of dominance and investigations.
  • Represented a global consumer electronics company in connection with an investigation by the European Commission and follow-up on settlement discussions.
  • Acted for a multinational company in the Belgian competition authority’s first cartel settlement decision concerning the Belgian grocery sector.
  • Advising a chemicals company in an abuse of dominance case and related litigation in the Netherlands.
  • Acted for a basic industries company in a Belgian and Dutch cartel investigation and succeeded in having the authority drop the investigation against the client.
  • Acted for a consumer goods company in an investigation by the Dutch competition authority regarding alleged resale price maintenance and online sales restrictions and succeeded in having the authority drop the investigation.
  • Advising a consumer goods company in connection with the setting up their pan-European selective distribution network.
  • Assisting an automotive manufacturer in reshaping its distribution model across Europe, which involved divesting dealerships, obtaining the related merger control approvals, and introducing a new distribution system.
  • Advising a shipping company on various space charter arrangements with other shipping companies under EU and UK competition law.

Languages
  • Dutch
  • English
  • French
  • German
Education
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium, Master Degree in Law, 2000
  • Europacollege, Bruges, Belgium, LL.M., EU competition law, 1999
  • Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, The Netherlands, Master Degree in Law, 1995

Seminars

  • Joost regularly presents at seminars and webinars on a variety of competition law topics. He is a guest lecturer at NCOI Learning.

Prior Experience

  • Joost started his career In 1996, working at the Dutch Ministry of Justice in The Hague.
  • In 1999, he joined a highly regarded competition law boutique firm in Brussels as an associate and in 2004, Joost joined the competition law team of a large global law firm.
  • In 2008, Joost then joined Philips in the Netherlands as head of the antitrust department.
  • In 2011, Joost returned to private practice in the Brussels office of the global law firm he was associated with prior to his joining Philips and was promoted to partner in 2018.
  • In 2022, Joost joined the Brussels office of DLA Piper as a competition law partner.

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Belgian competition law association (AEDC-VSRM)
  • Dutch competition law association (VvM)

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